Einstein's famous equation E=mc2 has a fascinating implication that matter and energy are interchangeable, meaning that matter can be created from pure energy such as light. The process of matter creation, also known as pair production, was first proposed by physicists Gregory Breit and John Wheeler in 1934 but has remained elusive due to the requirement of high-energy photons colliding to produce electron-positron pairs. However, a team of scientists from Brookhaven National Laboratory has reported the first direct observation of matter creation from light in a single step using the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC).

The scientists created intense electromagnetic fields using the RHIC, which contained virtual photons that behave like real photons. Some of these virtual photons interacted and turned into real photons with very high energy when two ions passed each other without colliding. These photons collided with each other and produced electron-positron pairs, which were detected by the STAR detector at RHIC. The scientists analyzed over 6,000 pairs and found that their angular distribution matched the theoretical prediction for matter creation from light.

This experiment confirms a long-standing prediction of quantum electrodynamics and provides a new way of studying matter and antimatter properties in extreme conditions. The scientists hope to explore this phenomenon further and its implications for fundamental physics and cosmology.

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