Time Travel is Possible, New Study Says

Researchers uncover that clip question is imaginable done spacetime loops. Credit: PeterThoeny / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The conception of clip travel, agelong a staple of science fiction, has besides captivated researchers exploring its technological possibilities. A caller survey by physicist Lorenzo Gavassino, published successful Classical and Quantum Gravity, looks into the theoretical foundations of clip loops and their imaginable real-world implications. His findings suggest that portion clip question is theoretically possible, it would relation successful ways acold removed from fashionable portrayals.

The basics of closed timelike curves (CTCs)

At the bosom of Gavassino’s research are closed timelike curves oregon CTCs. These are hypothetical loops successful spacetime wherever an entity could question and yet instrumentality to its starting constituent successful time. According to Einstein’s mentation of wide relativity, specified loops could beryllium successful definite beingness models, similar Gödel-type universes, wherever spacetime bends uniquely to make circular paths for time.

Gavassino examines however carnal systems, specified arsenic spacecraft, mightiness behave wrong these clip loops. His investigation reveals astonishing effects, including reversing time’s accustomed travel and preventing paradoxes often depicted successful fiction. For instance, the self-consistency principle—a cornerstone of his work—ensures that each events wrong a clip loop align logically, avoiding contradictions.

This rule eliminates scenarios similar the celebrated “grandfather paradox,” wherever a clip traveler alters the past to forestall their ain birth.

The consistency paradox oregon gramps paradox occurs erstwhile the past is changed successful immoderate way, frankincense creating a contradiction.

The paradox suggests that a origin is eliminated by its ain effect, frankincense preventing its ain origin and fundamentally becoming reverse causation.

The grandfather… pic.twitter.com/bhiJMyiRFt

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) November 3, 2023

Gavassino’s probe suggests that the laws of quantum mechanics people enforce this self-consistency, maintaining bid adjacent successful the astir antithetic circumstances.

Role of entropy successful clip loops

The survey besides highlights the relation of entropy, a measurement of upset that typically increases implicit time, marking the quality betwixt past and future. In a clip loop, entropy indispensable reset to its archetypal authorities by the extremity of the loop.

This means that time, which usually moves guardant irreversibly, would efficaciously reverse itself wrong the CTC. Gavassino illustrates this with the illustration of an unstable particle that breaks into smaller particles.

In mean conditions, this process would beryllium permanent. However, wrong a clip loop, quantum laws necessitate the smaller particles to recombine into the archetypal particle, reversing the process and restoring the strategy to its archetypal state.

Impacts connected representation and identity

Beyond carnal systems, Gavassino explores the interaction of clip loops connected biologic and intelligence processes. He argues that representation enactment and record-keeping would beryllium disrupted successful a CTC.

Any representation oregon grounds created during the travel indispensable vanish earlier the loop completes, ensuring the strategy resets without contradictions. This raises profound questions astir individuality and causality successful a beingness wherever clip question mightiness beryllium possible.