To put one of physicists’ most important theories to the test, scientists go to extremes. Extremely strong electromagnetic fields, that is.
The theory of quantum electrodynamics, which describes interactions of electrically charged particles and light, has been checked to painstaking precision (SN: 2/23/23). The theory correctly predicts properties of simple atoms, like hydrogen or helium. But it’s less carefully tested under intense electromagnetic fields, like those that exist around large atomic nuclei.
The theory’s predictions hold up even in those conditions, physicist Robert Lötzsch and colleagues report in the Jan. 25 Nature.
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