Story perspectives

Brookhaven Lab Discovers Matter from Vacuum in Proton Collisions

4/10/2026

Summary

Story summary

The STAR collaboration at Brookhaven National Laboratory, operating at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, observed quark-antiquark pairs created from the vacuum during high-energy proton collisions.
The observation provides evidence that quantum chromodynamics predicts matter can arise from what classical physics considers empty space.
The findings require further validation as future experiments will explore vacuum properties and mass-generation processes predicted by quantum chromodynamics.

1 of 1

Story summary

The STAR collaboration at Brookhaven National Laboratory, operating at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, observed quark-antiquark pairs created from the vacuum during high-energy proton collisions.
The observation provides evidence that quantum chromodynamics predicts matter can arise from what classical physics considers empty space.
The findings require further validation as future experiments will explore vacuum properties and mass-generation processes predicted by quantum chromodynamics.