“YES! Mathematically, It is possible.”
Physicists created a mathematical model for a viable time machine.
“People think of time travel as something as fiction. And we tend to think it’s not possible because we don’t actually do it,” says theoretical physicist and mathematician, Ben Tippett, from the University of British Columbia in Canada.
Physicists have proposed what they claim to be a mathematical model of a theoretical “time machine,” a box that can move back and forth in time and space.
The trick what they say, is to use the curvature of space-time in the Universe to fold time into a circle for hypothetical passengers sitting in the box, and this circle allows them to jump into the future and the past.
Together with David Tsang, an astrophysicist at the University of Maryland, Tippett has used Einstein’s theory of general relativity to come up with a mathematical model of what they’re calling a Traversable Acausal Retrograde Domain in Space-time (yep, the acronym is literally TARDIS).
Researchers do not claim to have a blueprint for time machine that can be built tomorrow. They only say that the materials we would need to build this thing are so exotic, we haven’t even discovered them yet.
“Studying space-time is both fascinating and problematic. And it’s also a fun way to use math and physics,” says Tippett. “Experts in my field have been exploring the possibility of mathematical time machines since 1949. And my research presents a new method for doing it.”
Tippett and Tsang propose, the model is based on the idea that instead of looking at the Universe in three spatial dimensions, with the fourth dimension (time) separated, we should be imagining those four dimensions simultaneously, which allows us to consider the possibility of a space-time continuum, where different directions in space and time are all connected within the curved fabric of the Universe.
If space-time were “flat” or not curved, the planets would move in a straight line. But according to relativity, space-time geometry curves in the neighborhood of large-mass objects, which means that the planets bend their paths and rotate around their star.
What Tippett and Tsang say is that it is not only the physical space that can be bent and twisted in the Universe – time itself can also be bent near mass objects. …
“The time direction of the space-time surface also shows curvature. There is evidence showing the closer to a black hole we get, time moves slower,” says Tippett.
In order to harness this theoretical property, the physicists propose creating a kind of ‘bubble’ of space-time geometry, which carries whatever’s inside it through space and time along a large circular path.
If this bubble can hit speeds greater than the speed of light – something the pair say is mathematically possible,this would allow it to move backwards in time.
“It is a box which travels ‘forwards’ and then ‘backwards’ in time along a circular path through spacetime,” the researchers explain in their paper.
“Delighted external observers would be able to watch the time travellers within the box evolving backwards in time: un-breaking eggs and separating cream from their coffee.”
You can see the basic idea in the picture above, with a passenger inside the bubble machine / time (person A), and an outside observer next to it (person B).
The arrow of time – which in normal circumstances (in our universe at least) always progresses, making the past become the present – is represented by the black arrows.
Both person A and person B will experience time in dramatically different ways, Experts say “Within the bubble, A will see the B’s events periodically evolve, and then reverse. Outside the bubble, observer B will see two versions of A emerge from the same location: one’s clock hands will turn clockwise, the other counterclockwise.”
“While is it mathematically feasible, it is not yet possible to build a space-time machine because we need materials – which we call exotic matter – to bend space-time in these impossible ways, but they have yet to be discovered,” says Tippett.
His idea recalls another theoretical machine of the time – the behavior of Alcubierre, who would use a shell of exotic material to transport passengers in time and space (hypothetically).
The two ideas can not go very far without an idea of how to produce these materials of spatio-temporal flexion, but, as Tippett points out, we will never cease to ask ourselves about the possibilities of traveling with time. it’s just one more direction, we can take this mental physics.
The research has been published in Classical and Quantum Gravity.
Did you know it’s mathematically possible to have negative mass ? “YES! Mathematically, It is possible.” If you have 2 apples and take 3 apples away from you then you are left with minus one apple – thus a negative mass. So then if someone gives you an apple you will have NO apples. See how stupid that sounds ? Lots of things may be mathematically possible but are impossible in reality – time travel and negative apples are just 2 of them.
The atomic clock experiments in the 70’s showed that time does run differently for each one of us. Well yes, now it may sound stupid but in the future? Might be impossible now but in the future? The Wright brothers were laughed at. Now nothing comes as close to beat air travel right? In my opinion as we humans gain knowledge and evolve , a lot of things we knew was impossible might become possible. Who know’s one day a man reading this article might get inspired and actually build a time machine (far fetched i know). I just would like to say that this post indeed tells that it’s Mathematically possible to build a time machine. Not in reality yet! So we both agree on the same thing i guess. Cheers! 🙂