James Clerk Maxwell came up with the revolutionary theory of electromagnetism back in the 1860s. It states that microwaves, radio waves, and light are made of magnetic and electric fields. Now, a new study by the Louisiana State University Department of Physics & Astronomy Assistant Professor Ivan Agullo, along with colleagues from Spain's Universidad de Valencia, lead to new discoveries regarding the theory of electromagnetism.
The study, published in the "Physical Review Letters," shows that gravity and quantum effects can disrupt the electromagnetic field's electric-magnetic duality and symmetry, Eureka Alert report. Maxwell's theory claims that electric charges exist, but there have been no observations done on magnetic charges while it is in nature. This has raised a mystery in the topic of electromagnetism that has physicist very curious.
A lot of people have been trying to debunk this mystery, but it seems only Agullo and his colleagues are the closest to ever discovering this electromagnetic enigma. According to Agullo gravity spoils the symmetry or the electric-magnetic duality from Maxwell's theory, even if magnetic monopoles do not exist. Since there is gravity everywhere, symmetry can't exist in this universe, Science Alert reported.
Agullo and his team came up with their new discovery by studying previous theories on this phenomenon called the fermions and used it on the photons in electromagnetic fields. They discovered the absence of symmetry due to gravity by using concrete techniques that were initially made for fermions, he said. This new discovery can debunk a lot of assumptions in science, even the origins of the universe.
Data from the Big Bang called Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) can give important information about the beginnings of the universe. Agullo said scientists can figure out how the Big Bang happened by measuring the CMB. Observing the CMB greatly involves gravitational fields, which means Agullo's new discovery that there is no symmetry in this universe due to gravity should make scientists change their focus on their topic.
