A spinning neutron star can lose 90% of its energy in just 30 milliseconds because the vacuum of space itself creates matter to slow it down.
April 24, 2026
Original Paper
Energy Loss of Newborn Magnetars by Schwinger Process
arXiv · 2604.21419
The Takeaway
Newborn magnetars generate such intense electric fields that they trigger the Schwinger process, creating matter and antimatter directly out of the vacuum. This cloud of newly formed particles creates a massive braking force that strips away the star's energy almost instantly. A star that should spin rapidly for thousands of years can be brought to a near-halt in less time than it takes to blink. This mechanism explains why some young neutron stars are found spinning much slower than traditional models predict. It proves that at extreme scales, empty space can act as a physical drag that converts motion into a storm of subatomic particles.
From the abstract
We investigate electron--positron pair creation through the Schwinger process in newborn magnetars with millisecond spin periods and surface dipole fields close to or above the QED critical field, $B_{\rm Q} = 4.414\times10^{13}\,\mathrm{G}$. In the unscreened field scenario, we derive the analytical global pair creation flux and recast it into a compact form with accurate analytic approximations. For a fiducial model with $B_{\rm p} = 10^{14}\,\mathrm{G}$ and $P_0 = 1\,\mathrm{ms}$, the Schwing