Time travel has beguiled the human mind since time unknown. From H. G. Wells’s famous “The Time Machine” to movies like Back to the Future and Interstellar, time travel has remained an alluring notion in science fiction. But what if time travel were not just fantasy? What if it were, as most scientists and physicists believe, something that at some point could be real?
Well, time travel is not as unimaginable as it actually is. While an opportunity to travel back in time or even into the future might have seemed to be some sort of dream, far, far away, every advance in quantum physics, astrophysics, and even day-to-day technological development brings that dream closer to reality. With that said, this article is aimed at taking a deeper look into the scientific theories of time travel, some of the technologies that may enable such someday, and perhaps why some scientists believe it is not quite as over-the-horizon as many of us might believe.
Time-Travel Science: A Physics Matter
Wrapped up in all theories having something to do with time travel is Einstein’s theory of relativity. The special and general theories developed by Albert Einstein form the backbone of modern physics and thereby provide the base necessary to understand time and space.
Special Relativity and Time Dilation
In 1905, Einstein was the developer of the so-called special relativity that flipped the normal conception about space and time upside down. Of these all, one very important result is time dilatation-a well-remembered idea, where the relativity of time exists for it passes with different times as respects the observer at a certain level of motion. In easy language, it goes with, saying: The more one goes around space, the less passing of time takes place, than when the second observer does nothing and waits around, then.
For instance, if you were traveling at a speed near the speed of light, then, relative to you, time would seem to pass much more slowly for you compared with someone on Earth. In other words, if one could obtain relativistic speed-speeds near the speed of light-you could, in effect travel into the future. This time travel is possible in theory but the problem is the technology to reach such speed.
General Relativity and the Warping of Space-Time
The general theory of relativity by Einstein in 1915 took one more step regarding the relation of space and time. Herein, he proposed that heavy entities such as planets, stars, and black holes bent the fabric of space-time around them. Such bends in space-time would give rise to not only time dilation but can even take shortcuts through the space-time-so-called wormholes.
Correspondingly, wormholes would be a certain hypothetical tunnels through space-time conceptually enabling instantaneous travel between two points of space and time. Such “bridges” would consist in two points in spacetime being connected in such a way that it would be possible, for example, to travel by means of that kind of tunnel through the fabric of the universe from one place and time to another.
Although wormholes are purely theoretical, never having been observed in nature, their existence is allowed for by the theory of general relativity. Some physicists even think that if a wormhole somehow were stable and controllable, then it would provide one way to travel through time. However, the energy required to create and stabilize such a wormhole is enormous, and the technology to do such a thing is way beyond what is known today or can even be conceived of at present.
Quantum Mechanics and Time Travel
Quantum mechanics is another branch of physics that opened perspectives in a totally new light to the concept of time travel. The area deals with very small-scale analyses of the behavior of particles for which the laws of classical physics are inapplicable. Particles in the quantum world can exist in a number of states all at once, exhibit bizarre behaviors including teleportation, and even experience time in ways which stand in contrast to our ordinary experience of time.
Quantum Entanglement and the “Many-Worlds” Hypothesis
One of the interesting features of quantum mechanics is entanglement. In simple terms, it is when two particles become coupled in such a way that their states instantly depend on each other, even if separated by a large distance; change one and the state of the other immediately changes, even if they are light-years apart.
This “spooky action at a distance,” as Einstein once famously termed it, drove some to speculate that quantum entanglement can be leveraged in order to send information or even people through time. While anyone has yet to figure out how to take advantage of this entanglement for time travel, the idea exists that quantum entanglement allows particles to “leap” across time and space instantaneously.
But the many-worlds hypothesis-the theory in quantum mechanics that every possible outcome of a quantum event actually does take place, just in a parallel universe-paved the way for even more interesting prospects regarding time travel. Some say time travel, if it’s possible at all, might involve navigating between these parallel realities or timelines. That would be in good accordance with the idea of branching timelines, which assumes every time something gets decided, another universe splits off, and where time travelers could actually visit different versions of history.
Experimental Technologies: Is It Possible to Build a Time Machine?
While the concept of time travel is abstract, a few experimental technologies really push the envelope on what we thought was possible. Whereas some were rooted in quantum physics, others are inspired by the implications of Einstein’s theories.
The Large Hadron Collider and Time Manipulation
The Large Hadron Collider is arguably the most powerful machine ever devised by man and may hold the key to solve one of the biggest mysteries: time and space. Accelerating these particles to nearly the speed of light, this device achieves its goals where scientists could analyze particle collisions at energies that have so far been beyond the reach of available instruments. It is under such energy conditions that phenomena of time dilation and quantum behavior become observable, offering unparalleled opportunities to a time laboratory.
While the LHC itself has not given direct evidence on manipulation, data obtained from this powerful collider have been helping the researchers in probing a number of basic queries on the universe. According to theoreticians, the LHC at some point in the future could unravel secrets on the creation of wormholes or even those related to time loop creation, though still purely speculative.
CERN and Wormholes
Recently, the physicists at CERN came forward with an argument that even the tiniest-sized wormholes may theoretically be fabricated. The path is far different to producing such macroscopic worms, into and through which someone might get inside, though the concept of the little guys could well be step one in a plan for tinkering with the fourth dimension.
Along with that, research related to “negative energy” and exotic matter is also in process for the same reason. Both are considered very important in keeping a wormhole open. If these two concepts come into reality, they would show the way for creating a stable wormhole-opening towards time travel.
Time Crystals: The New Frontier of Time Manipulation
Within the last couple of years, the discovery of time crystals really flipped a new page in manipulations with time. If they could be created, time crystals would have some sort of perpetual motion and, therefore, would be a new phase of matter. If normal crystals have their atoms oscillate in a repeating fashion, time crystals would oscillate in time, thus “moving” through the fabric of time quite contrary to traditional conceptions and conventional laws governing such movements.
While the time crystals themselves are not time machines, the discovery of this phenomenon engendered a number of speculations that they might be used in some sort of technology that deals with time in the future. Indeed, researchers are just starting to delve deep into research with time crystals, but truly their potential cannot be ignored for rewriting our perception of time itself.
Why Time Travel Might Be Closer Than You Think
In fact, there are some cogent reasons to believe that time travel is not as far in the future as one may consider, notwithstanding enormous difficulties inherent in the process. At any rate, theory is rapidly unfolding these days, and experimental technologies inch closer to making some of those ideas real. Time travel, it seems, does not, after all, violate the laws of nature. Concomitantly, the physicists feel that the right set of conditions and technology are all it would take for them to get this going.
As quantum physics evolves, with the pursuit for new materials like time crystals, and atom smashers like the LHC, a completely different look at time and space is taken. We won’t fire up that old time machine just yet. However, many physicists do believe that the ability for time travel is in our grasp. They see this journey as having a surprisingly clear path.
Time travel could be more than just a science-fiction fantasy. Our evolving understanding of the universe holds the answer for anyone who has ever wondered. It also depends on revolutionary technologies yet to be discovered.