As it was performed in an experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory could it happen in nature as well?

Reference: Direct Observation of Vacuum Entanglement: Measuring Spin Correlations Between Quarks During QCD Confinement https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09920 -0 Nature 650, 65–71 (2026) | STAR Collaboratio

Abstract / Executive Summary:

The quantum vacuum is a fundamental but poorly understood feature of the standard model, theorized to possess a rich structure defined by fluctuating energy fields and a condensate of virtual quark-antiquark pairs. A profound open question in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the precise mechanism that links chiral symmetry breaking and mass generation to quark confinement. In this landmark study, the STAR Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) provides the first direct experimental evidence linking virtual, spin-correlated quark pairs in the QCD vacuum to observable, final-state hadrons.

By analyzing high-energy proton-proton collisions, researchers investigated $$\Lambda$$ and Anti-$$\Lambda$$

By analyzing high-energy proton-proton collisions, researchers investigated and hyperon pairs—particles created when virtual strange quark-antiquark pairs are energized and liberated from the vacuum before undergoing QCD confinement. The experiment revealed a striking relative polarization signal of (18 ± 4)%, indicating a robust spin correlation that approaches the maximum allowed for a spin-triplet state. Crucially, this strong correlation rapidly vanishes when the hyperon pairs are widely separated in angle, a behavior entirely consistent with the decoherence of an entangled quantum system.

Significance:

These findings mark a major breakthrough in particle physics by demonstrating that the spin alignment of entangled, virtual quarks survives the extreme process of mass generation and hadronization. Beyond confirming the active, entangled nature of the QCD vacuum, this study establishes high-energy particle collisions as a novel “quantum device.” It provides a new experimental framework to explore the dynamics of quark confinement, nontrivial vacuum topology, and quantum entanglement in regimes currently inaccessible to first-principle calculations or modern quantum simulators.

GRB – Gamma Ray Bursts

Based on this paper the energy required is the threshold energy necessary to pull a virtual strange quark ($s$) and an anti-strange quark ($\bar{s}$) out of the vacuum and package them into stable, observable particles—specifically, the $\Lambda$ (Lambda) and $\bar{\Lambda}$ (anti-Lambda) hyperons.

Calculating the Minimum Energy (Threshold Energy)

Because of QCD confinement, strange quarks cannot exist on their own; they must immediately bind with other quarks to form hadrons. Therefore, we do not calculate the energy based merely on the bare masses of the strange quarks. Instead, we calculate the energy required to create the final, stable particle pair: the $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$ hyperons.

Step 1: Identify the rest mass of the final particles

Particle masses in high-energy physics are measured in electron-volts divided by the speed of light squared (eV/$c^2$).

• The mass of a $\Lambda$ hyperon ($m_{\Lambda}$) is approximately $1.1156 \text{ GeV}/c^2$ (Giga-electron volts).
• The mass of an anti-$\Lambda$ hyperon ($m_{\bar{\Lambda}}$) is identical: $1.1156 \text{ GeV}/c^2$.

Step 2: Sum the rest masses

The absolute minimum energy ($E_{min}$) required to pluck this pair from the vacuum at a standstill is the sum of their rest masses:

$$E_{min} = m_{\Lambda}c^2 + m_{\bar{\Lambda}}c^2$$

$$E_{min} = 1.1156 \text{ GeV} + 1.1156 \text{ GeV}$$

$E_{min} \approx 2.231 \text{ GeV}$

So, a localized energy fluctuation of at least 2.231 billion electron volts is required just to create the mass of these two particles.

Calculating the Total Energy (Including Momentum)

In a high-energy collider, these particles are not created at a standstill; they are blasted outward at significant fractions of the speed of light. Therefore, the actual energy required from the collision must account for their kinetic energy (momentum).

To calculate the total energy ($E_{total}$) of the liberated particle pair, physicists use the full relativistic energy-momentum equation:

$$E^2 = (pc)^2 + (m_0c^2)^2$$

Where:

• $E$ is the total energy of a single particle.
• $p$ is the particle’s momentum (measured by the STAR detector’s tracking systems).
• $c$ is the speed of light.
• $m_0$ is the rest mass of the particle.

For the entangled pair, the total energy drawn from the collision is the sum of the relativistic energies of both the $\Lambda$ and the $\bar{\Lambda}$:

$$E_{total} = \sqrt{(p_{\Lambda}c)^2 + (m_{\Lambda}c^2)^2} + \sqrt{(p_{\bar{\Lambda}}c)^2 + (m_{\bar{\Lambda}}c^2)^2}$$

Context: Where does this energy come from?

In the RHIC experiment featured in the Nature paper, the colliding protons are accelerated to a center-of-mass energy ($\sqrt{s}$) of $200 \text{ GeV}$.

Because $200 \text{ GeV}$ is vastly larger than the minimum $2.231 \text{ GeV}$ threshold required to create a $\Lambda\bar{\Lambda}$ pair, a single proton-proton collision provides a massive surplus of energy. This violent injection of energy excites the gluon fields in the QCD vacuum, easily paying the “mass debt” required to upgrade multiple virtual strange quark pairs into reality, alongside dozens of other particles like pions and kaons.

GRB in Empty Space ?

In modern astrophysics, empty space is not truly empty. Even in the absence of all matter and radiation, space possesses an intrinsic baseline energy known as vacuum energy (often associated with Dark Energy and the Cosmological Constant).

The energy density of the vacuum in our universe is incredibly small—roughly $10^{-9}$ Joules per cubic meter.

A typical high-energy Gamma Ray Burst is one of the most luminous events in the universe, releasing roughly $10^{44}$ Joules of energy in just a few seconds. (For context, that is more energy than our Sun will produce in its entire 10-billion-year lifetime).

Using our previous cosmological vacuum energy density of $10^{-9}$ Joules per cubic meter, we can calculate the volume of empty space required to contain the baseline energy of a GRB:

$$V = \frac{10^{44} \text{ Joules}}{10^{-9} \text{ Joules/m}^3}$$

$$V = 10^{53} \text{ cubic meters}$$

To visualize $10^{53}$ cubic meters, imagine a sphere of empty space with a radius of roughly 30 light-years. If you could somehow harvest every drop of intrinsic dark energy from a 60-light-year-wide bubble of the cosmos and instantaneously convert it into high-energy photons, you would have a Gamma Ray Burst.

Likely Areas of Empty Space GRBs

The Boötes Void: Often called the “Great Nothing,” this is one of the most famous voids in astrophysics. It is roughly 330 million light-years in diameter. To put its emptiness into perspective: if the Milky Way were placed in the absolute center of the Boötes Void, human astronomers wouldn’t have even known that other galaxies existed until the invention of deep-space telescopes in the 1960s.

The Local Void: You don’t have to look far to find one. Our Milky Way sits on the edge of the Local Void, a massive region of emptiness roughly 150 million light-years across. It is so empty that its lack of gravitational pull is actively causing our galaxy to move away from it, drawn instead toward heavier superclusters.

The Giant Void (Canes Venatici): Located roughly 1.5 billion light-years away, this void has an estimated diameter of 1 to 1.3 billion light-years. It is a staggeringly large expanse of almost entirely empty space.

Largest Observed GRB Event

In October 2022, astronomers detected GRB 221009A, officially nicknamed the “BOAT” (Brightest Of All Time).Telescopes detected photons hitting Earth at energies of 13 TeV (Tera-electron volts).

Current Physics Limitation

The Vacuum Decay Problem: If a 30-light-year sphere of space somehow did dump its baseline energy into a single GRB, the energy of that space would drop below the vacuum ground state.

In quantum field theory, dropping below the true vacuum state triggers Vacuum Decay—a catastrophic, light-speed bubble that would rewrite the laws of physics and could destroy the universe as it expands unless there is another mechanism that contains it to an GRB Event.