Scientists from the prestigious University of Cambridge say they have successfully carried out a time travel simulation. By exploring the many peculiarities of the quantum world, these theoretical journeys into the past could solve physical problems that cannot be solved by known physics.
What is theoretical time travel?
The researchers did not create a DeLorean, like the ship in the famous film saga, or anything similar, since it is not a machine that can transport its occupants to another time. However, they insist that, in these theoretical trips, the laws of physics were respected without altering the events that already occurred.
The idea that particles can move in time is controversial. Although in the quantum world, the timeline does not have the same rigidity as in the real world. In the past, some experiments were carried out simulating, always in theory, space-time loops to study their behaviors.
The studies carried out by the Cambridge scientists, led by physicist David Arvidsson Shukur, were published in the journal Physical Review Letters. The experiment consisted of the simulation of a space-time loop that allows changes in the parameters, although these had already been established from the beginning.
According to Arvidsson and assuming the following sequence: “if you want to send a present to someone, it is necessary to send it on the first day, and in this way the present would arrive on the third day.” However, according to his saying: “the wish list of the person to whom the present is sent is only known on the second day.” Therefore, respecting this chronology, it is impossible to send the correct present that the person wants.
What science proposes is the possibility of changing the gift sent on the first day, knowing in advance the wishes of that person, which according to the chronology are known on the second day. This is something impossible to achieve in the real world, although, according to scientists, it can be achieved if the right conditions are created.
A theoretical experiment that they want to make reality
To generate those conditions, the scientists developed a hypothetical time loop by simulating quantum teleportation circuits using entangled particles.
According to the study, quantum entanglement consists of correlations that quantum particles can share, while in conventional physics this is not possible. By changing the properties of a single quantum particle, like a spiral, a change is generated in the others. In this way, in quantum computers, complex calculations can be carried out that are not possible to solve with other computers.
Thus, the Cambridge scientists altered the properties of one particle and observed the same changes in the others, a phenomenon known as quantum teleportation. In this way, the entanglement of particles is used not only to provide information through physical space, but also to go back in time.
According to Arvidsson, so far the time travel experiment works one in four attempts, meaning it is only 25% successful. This is a theoretical experiment that has not yet been carried out in reality, so in order to do so, scientists will apply a filter to discard the 75% of failed attempts.
So far, time travel is only theoretical and based simply on simulations. It is not possible to travel to the past and modify it at will.