Physicists Confirm Direct Link Between Quantum Vacuum Fluctuations and Particle Spin Alignment

Physicists within the STAR Collaboration at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) have reported fundamental experimental evidence confirming a direct link between the fluctuating energy of the quantum vacuum and the creation of observable particles. This finding, detailed in the journal Nature in early February 2026, establishes a rare connection between the ephemeral energy fields of 'nothingness' and the genesis of tangible matter.

The research utilized data from millions of proton-proton collisions within the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), the sole operating particle collider in the United States, situated in Upton, New York. The experimental focus centered on analyzing pairs of short-lived particles, specifically lambda hyperons and their antiparticles, produced in the high-energy smashups. These particles were chosen because their quantum spin orientation, an intrinsic magnetic property, can be precisely determined from their subsequent decay patterns.

The team observed a critical correlation: when lambda and antilambda particles were generated in extremely close spatial proximity during a collision event, their intrinsic spins were found to be perfectly aligned. This spin alignment serves as the linchpin of the discovery, as virtual strange quark/anti-strange quark pairs spontaneously emerging from the quantum vacuum are theoretically produced with aligned spins. Dr. Zhoudunming (Kong) Tu, a STAR physicist at Brookhaven and a co-leader of the study, stated in February 2026 that this result offers the first direct experimental proof suggesting the strange quarks inherited their quantum alignment from a single, inseparable pair originating from the vacuum state.

Dr. Jan Vanek, a physicist from the University of New Hampshire and the study's other co-leader, described the phenomenon as "quantum twins" retaining the spin orientation of their parent strange quarks when generated near one another. The research indicates this perfect spin correlation diminishes when particles are created farther apart, suggesting environmental separation allows the initial quantum entanglement established in the vacuum to dissipate. The quantum vacuum is understood within quantum field theory as a dynamic medium constantly generating fleeting, entangled virtual particle-antiparticle pairs.

The intense energy delivered by RHIC's near-light-speed collisions provides the necessary boost to convert some of these virtual strange quark/anti-strange quark pairs into real, detectable matter. This methodology offers a novel experimental tool to scrutinize the transition point where correlated quantum behavior moves into the realm of classical physics. The STAR Collaboration, previously known for studying the quark-gluon plasma, plans to apply this spin-correlation technique to heavier ion collisions and the forthcoming Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a planned upgrade facility at BNL.