Shaping the Futureby Neil Johnson
The idea of
travelling forward into the future or back into the past has always
fascinated science fiction writers. The 'grandfather paradox' is the
argument many people use to suggest that time travel is impossible. What
if you went back in time and prevented your grandfather from meeting
your grandmother so that your mother was never born? Then you would
never have been born... and so on.
Until very recently such arguments
led most scientists to believe that time travel could never exist
outside science fiction. But amazingly, some interpretations of the
weirdness of the quantum world now suggest that time travel is possible -
at least in theory.
Gravity and black holesEinstein's theory of
relativity brought space and time together in a single, four-dimensional
arrangement that he called spacetime. We know that we can travel
forwards, backwards and sideways in space, so why not forwards and
backwards in time?
Four dimensions are difficult to imagine, so
physicists usually suggest you think of spacetime as a rubber sheet
stretched out flat. If there are no large masses around, the sheet stays
flat, and so any object placed on it will move around in straight
lines. But a large mass, such as the Sun, makes a dip in the sheet because it actually warps spacetime. Now any other object with smaller mass, like our Earth,
moving about in spacetime rolls into the dip as it comes past the Sun.
It appears 'attracted' to the large mass. This effect of warping
spacetime is what gives rise to gravity.
The Universe is full of
heavy objects exerting gravitational effects and the net result is that
spacetime is not flat at all but curved. Everything, including light,
has to follow curved paths in spacetime. We know Einstein was right
about this because astronomers can sometimes see distant stars that
ought to be masked by nearer objects such as the Sun. Instead of travelling in straight lines and hence being blocked, the light from the stars bends round the obstruction.
When a star reaches the end of its life
it may collapse inwards under the influence of its own gravity to such
an extent that all its matter becomes concentrated into an extremely
dense object a fraction of its original size. This is a black hole.
Black holes have such a huge gravitational pull that nothing can escape
from them, not even light. We cannot see them but we have good evidence
that they exist. We can see stars behaving in ways which suggest that
they are being pulled about by a nearby invisible object with enormous
mass.
What does a black hole do to space-time? Relativity predicts
that at the centre of a black hole is an infinitely dense point, called a
singularity, within which all the normal laws of physics no longer
apply. Time, space, matter and energy no longer have any well-defined
meaning. Einstein's equations show that such a singularity doesn't just
make a dip in the imaginary rubber sheet of space-time; it makes a
tunnel that goes right through and momentarily opens out on the other
side.
Where is 'the other side'? It could be somewhere else in
space-time, either in the future or in the past, or it could even be in
another Universe! Supposedly it was Dr Who's Time lords
who first harnessed the power of a black hole to begin their
experiments in time travel. If you could take a spaceship through such a
tunnel, or wormhole,
you would have discovered the secret of time travel. This is of course
impossible with today's technology. But in the future, who knows?
Mini
wormholesEinstein's equations describe a space-time that is perfectly
smooth, like the rubber sheet. His theory of relativity only deals with
the physics of what happens on big scales. It cannot deal with what
happens at the centre of a black hole, or what happened during the moment of the Big Bang
at the birth of the Universe when spacetime itself was infinitesimally
small. That takes us back into the world of quantum physics.
If you
could look at spacetime with a magnifying glass so powerful that it
reached down to the quantum scale, you would not see the smooth,
continuous sheet of Einstein's spacetime. Just as a foam rubber ball
looks smooth from a distance but rough and ragged close up. In this
picture of spacetime it is quite likely that tiny holes could open up,
entrances to little tunnels between now and other times, or between here
and other universes. Another option for future time travelers would be
somehow to harness these tiny wormholes and expand them.
Many
worlds, many futures?To return to the question that has puzzled
thinkers since Newton's day, is the future preordained? Or are there an
infinite number of futures? One way of looking at the quantum world
suggests that not only are there an infinite number of futures, but they
are realised in an infinite number of universes.
Photons and
electrons sometimes behave as waves and sometimes as particles, but
never both at the same time. So far, the argument for interference
between one universe and another applies only to events occurring at the
quantum level.
But the idea of parallel universes provides a
possible resolution to the 'grandfather paradox' that might otherwise
cause problems for time travellers. If we travel back in time and change
history, we launch ourselves into a new future in a parallel universe -
but we have no effect on the present one from which we started out.
Scientists
of the future may well pursue a new form of futuristic technology based
on quantum effects. Such applications could include quantum
teleportation, by which a quantum particle can be teleported from one
point in space to another; and quantum computation, where calculations
can be carried out which would take many years on a conventional
computer. Although we now know how to measure time very accurately, have
we come any nearer to answering the basic question 'What is time?'.
Neil Johnson is a Physics lecturer at Oxford University where he heads his own research group.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/exploration/timetravel/
Brian's Views on Time Travel
and Interdimensional Voyages
Time
travel is no longer regarded as strictly science fiction. For years the
concept of time travel has been the topic of science fiction novels and
movies, and has been pondered by great scientists throughout history.
Einstein’s theories of general and special relativity can be used to
actually prove that time travel is possible. Government research
experiments have yielded experimental data that conclusively illustrate
that fast moving aircraft have traveled into the future. This phenomenon
is due to the principal of time dilation, which states that bodies
moving at high velocities experience a time that ticks slower than the
time measured at zero velocity.3 Not as much time elapses for a moving
body as does for everything else. Phenomena known as wormholes and
closed timelike curves are possible means of time travel into the future
and the past.4 Traveling into the past is a task which is much more
difficult than traveling into the future. This feat has not yet been
accomplished -to our knowledge- and its theory involves complicated
scenarios of tears in four dimensional space-time, and traveling near
the speed of light. Obstacles which prevent our hubris attempts to cheat
time include our inability to move even close to the speed of light,
and finding a source of energy as powerful as an exploding star. Simply
because the proposal of time travel is backed by scientific theory, is
no reason to expect that it is easily achievable. Numerous arguments are
proposed that that prevent time travel into the past. Both common sense
and scientific fact can be used to paint scenarios that become serious
obstacles. Not to fear, we have all the time in the world to overcome
these minor limitations.
Imagine if you will, that you are one of the
people sill alive today that was born prior to 1903, when the first
airplane took flight. When you were young the idea of flying would
probably have been quite exciting. Some scientists believe that we may
presently be living through an identical scenario. The thing that would
be so exciting however, would not be flight, but time travel. Leading
scientists believe that our children will live to once again see the
impossible become routine. Professor Michio Kaku of the University of
New York believes that space flight may one day unlock the secret of
time itself. This will require the development of spacecraft that can
travel at speeds on the order of two hundred million meters per second,
that’s about four hundred and fifty million miles per hour. Craft
traveling at this speed will take us near the speed of light, where time
actually slows down. This is what’s known as time dilation. Einstein’s
theories predict that the faster a spacecraft moves, the slower time
ticks inside of it. Imagine that a rocket ship takes off from earth and
approaches the speed of light. If we were to watch it from earth with a
very powerful telescope as it traveled away from us, we would see
everyone inside the ship as being frozen in time. To us their time would
slow down, but to them nothing would change! This has been measured in
the laboratory and on location using atomic clocks, aircraft, satellites
and rockets. It is proven that time slows down the faster you move. In
1975 Professor Carol Allie of the University of Maryland tested
Einstein’s theory using two synchronized atomic clocks. One clock was
loaded on a plane and flown for several hours, while the other clock
remained on the ground at the air base. Upon return, the clock on board
the plane was found to be ever so slightly slower that the one on the
ground. This was not due to experimental error, and has been repeated
numerous times with the same result. This difference in time is even
more pronounced in satellites such as the space station. This is because
these objects are traveling at speeds much faster and for much longer
periods than possible in an airplane. The faster an object moves, the
more time is distorted.
Now that we know that it is possible to
travel into the future by moving at great speeds, the next problem is
how to travel in time a respectable amount without having to sit in a
fast moving spaceship for years. This problem is solved by the
theoretical existence of what are know as closed timelike curves, and
wormholes.
Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity
combine three-dimensional space with time to form four dimensional
space-time.2 Space-time consists of points or events that represent a
particular place at a particular time. Your entire life thus forms a
sort of twisting, turning worm in space time! The tip of the worm’s tail
would be your birth and its head is the event of your death. The line
which this worm creates with its body is called that object’s worldline.
Einstein predicts that worldlines can be distorted by massive bodies
such as black holes. This is essentially the origin of gravity,
remember. Now if an object’s worldline were to be distorted so much as
to form a loop that connected with a point on itself that represented an
earlier place and time, it would create a corridor to the past! Picture
a loop to loop track that smashes into itself as it comes back around.
This closed loop is called a closed timelike curve. Timelike means that
the body under consideration experiences time that increases in one
direction along its worldline.2 Princeton University physicist John A.
Wheeler, and Kip S. Thorne of Cal. Tech. have shown that a closed
timelike curve is one way to create a kind of shortcut through
space-time called a wormhole.2
Wormholes are holes in the fabric
of four dimensional space-time, that are connected, but which originate
at different points in space and at different times. They provide a
quick path between two different locations in space and time. This is
the four dimensional equivalent of pinching two pieces of a folded sheet
of paper together to make contact across the gap. Distortions in space
cause the points separated by the gap to bulge out and connect. This
forms a wormhole through which something could instantaneously travel to
a far away place and time.4 No more problems of traveling in a rocket
ship for years to get into the future! This is essentially what was
written about in "Alice in Wonderland’s Through the Looking Glass." Her
looking glass was a wormhole that connected her home in Oxford, with
wonderland. All she had to do was climb into her looking glass and she
would emerge on the other side of forever. In reality however, it would
require a much more elaborate scheme to create a wormhole that connects
two different points in space-time. First it would require the
construction of two identical machines consisting of two huge parallel
metal plates that are electrically charged with unbelievable amounts of
energy. When the machines are placed in proximity of each other, the
enormous amounts of energy -about that of an exploding star- would rip a
hole in space-time and connect the two machines via a wormhole. This is
possible, and the beginnings of it have been illustrated in the lab by
what is known as the Casimir Effect. The next task would be to place one
of these machines on a craft that could travel at close to the speed of
light. The craft would take one machine on a journey while it was still
connected to the one on earth via the wormhole. Now, a simple step into
the wormhole would transport you to a different place and a different
time.
Wormholes and closed timelike loops appear to be the main
ways that time travel into the past would be possible. The limitation on
this time travel into the past is that it would be impossible to travel
back to a time before the machine was originally created. Although the
aforementioned theories of general relativity are consistent for closed
timelike curves and wormholes, the theories say nothing about the actual
process of traveling through them. Quantum mechanics can be used to
model possible scenarios, and yields the probability of each possible
output. Quantum mechanics, when used in the context of time travel, has a
so-called many-universe interpretation. This was first proposed by Hugh
Everett III in 1957.3 It encompasses the idea that if something can
physically happen, it does in some universe. Everett says that our
reality is only one of many equally valid universes. There is a
collection of universes, called a multiverse. Every multiverse has
copies of every person, structure, and atom. For every possible event,
every possible outcome is said to be played out on a different universe.
This interpretation of quantum mechanics is quite controversial
however, but does elicit the notion that it may be impossible to travel
backward in time to our own universe or dimension. One must consider
what past would be the destination of a time traveler. The notion that
time travel could link parallel universes, has been anticipated in
science fiction novels, and is even depicted in the popular television
series "Sliders." In this program, a "sliding machine" creates a
wormhole that links two parallel dimensions. Each week the group of
"sliders" jump into the wormhole and emerge in the same place and time,
but a different dimension. They can run into their other selves and
experience a reality that has yielded a vastly different society than
their own. The interesting thing is that the stuff of science fiction,
can be deduced from existing physical theory. All the claims made about
time travel are consequences of basic scientific laws and standard
quantum mechanics.
The proposal of time travel is backed by
scientific theory, but that is not enough to make it realistically
possible. Numerous arguments are proposed that that prevent time travel
into the past. Both common sense and scientific fact construct serious
obstacles. A major argument against time travel into the past is called
the autonomy principle, better know as the grandfather paradox. This
paradox is created when a time traveler goes back in time to meet his or
her grandfather. Now upon their introduction it would be possible to
change the course of events that lead up to your grandfather and
grandmother marrying. You could tell him something about a family secret
to convince him you are who you say you are, and he may proceed to tell
his soon to be wife. She may in turn doubt his sanity and have him
committed. Thus your grandparents would never have your mother, and
therefore you couldn’t be born! But then how could you have ever existed
to travel back in time if you don’t exist? You would have had to have
been created via autonomy. The next question would be, if your mother
was never born, then when you return to the future would anything you
did in your life exist? Or would you, your friends, your home etc. never
have existed? This is clearly an inconsistency paradox that would rule
out time travel, yet interestingly enough the laws of physics do not
forbid such excursions. The multiverse concept eradicates the problem of
the autonomy principal, because it allows time travel to the past, but
to a different universe. You would meet the person who was your
grandfather in your universe, but never married your grandmother in his
universe. In the universe that you traveled to, you never existed.
Another
argument of impossibility is called the chronology principal. This
principal states that time travelers could bring information to the past
that could be used to create new ideas and products. This would involve
no creative energy on the part of the "inventor." Imagine that Pablo
Ruiz y Picasso, the most influential and successful artist of the 20th
century, were to travel back in time to meet his younger self. Assuming
he stays in his correct universe, he could give his younger self his
portfolio containing copies of his paintings, sculptures, graphic art,
and ceramics. The young version of Picasso could then meticulously copy
the reproductions, profoundly and irrevocably affecting the future of
art. Thus, the reproductions exist because they are copied from the
originals, and the originals exist because they are copied from the
reproductions. No creative energy would have ever been expended to
create the masterpieces! 3 This chronology principal rules out travel
into the past.
A notion that was once nothing more than science
fiction, is now a concept that’s becoming reality. Einstein’s theories
of general and special relativity can be used to actually prove that
time travel is possible, and research has shown that fast moving craft
can travel into the future. Time dilation is the easiest method because
it merely requires high velocity motion to experience time travel.3
Phenomena known as wormholes and closed timelike curves are possible
means of time travel into the future and the past.4 Traveling into the
past is a task which is much more difficult however. Its theory involves
complicated scenarios of tears in four dimensional space-time, energy
equivalent to that of an exploding star, and traveling near the speed of
light. Both common sense and scientific fact can be used to paint
scenarios that become serious obstacles. Yet even these hindrances can
be explained away! If the multiverse concept is reality, then most
present ideas of time travel are based on a false reality. If time
travel is completely impossible then the reason has yet to be
discovered.
Source: http://www.iit.edu/~bosabri/time.html
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