Can Light Remember? Science is a Crucial Step Closer to Finding Out

The emission of a high-speed charge in a phase of lowered speed of light triggers the formation of a distinctive shock ring of strongly enhanced memory as a low frequency “echo” of the process. Image by Jann Zosso.
The emission of a high-speed charge in a phase of lowered speed of light triggers the formation of a distinctive shock ring of strongly enhanced memory as a low frequency “echo” of the process. Image by Jann Zosso.

A new mechanism has been discovered that greatly amplifies the faint, low-frequency “echoes” of light known as electromagnetic memory. Modern theories of physics predict that information is carried not only by waves—whose periodic nature washes away all trace of the past—but also by memory signals that leave a permanent mark edged into the field underlying electricity and magnetism. These fundamentally distinct messages are intimately linked to the symmetries that govern the universality of the laws of physics. In an article selected as Editor’s suggestion of Physical Review Letters, the Center of Gravity member Jann Zosso has shown that, under the right conditions, the emission of a high-speed charged particle can trigger a distinctive shock ring of strongly enhanced memory along its direction of motion. This breakthrough could enable the first-ever experimental verification of the ability of light to “remember”, opening a new observational window onto the universal principles of modern physics.

The published article can be found here.

Oct. 21, 2025, 4:06 a.m.