Have researchers found a way to harness time?

Quantum time as an abstract concept/Stillfx, Adobe Stock

So they say. From ScienceDaily:

A University of Queensland-led international team of researchers say they have discovered “a new kind of quantum time order.”

UQ physicist Dr Magdalena Zych said the discovery arose from an experiment the team designed to bring together elements of the two big — but contradictory — physics theories developed in the past century.

“Our proposal sought to discover: what happens when an object massive enough to influence the flow of time is placed in a quantum state?” Dr Zych said.

She said Einstein’s theory described how the presence of a massive object slowed time.

“Imagine two space ships, asked to fire at each other at a specified time while dodging the other’s attack,” she said.

“If either fires too early, it will destroy the other.”

“In Einstein’s theory, a powerful enemy could use the principles of general relativity by placing a massive object — like a planet — closer to one ship to slow the passing of time.”

“Because of the time lag, the ship furthest away from the massive object will fire earlier, destroying the other.”

Dr Zych said the second theory, of quantum mechanics, says any object can be in a state of “superposition”

“This means it can be found in different states — think Schrodinger’s cat,” she said.

Dr Zych said using the theory of quantum mechanics, if the enemy put the planet into a state of “quantum superposition,” then time also should be disrupted.

“There would be a new way for the order of events to unfold, with neither of the events being first or second — but in a genuine quantum state of being both first and second,” she said.

UQ researcher Dr Fabio Costa said although “a superposition of planets” as described in the paper — may never be possible, technology allowed a simulation of how time works in the quantum world — without using gravity.

“Even if the experiment can never be done, the study is relevant for future technologies,” Dr Costa said. Paper. (open access) – Magdalena Zych, Fabio Costa, Igor Pikovski, Časlav Brukner. Bell’s theorem for temporal order. Nature Communications, 2019; 10 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11579-x More.

The theory is, it will help quantum computers work faster. Let’s see it closer to home first.

See also: Would backwards time travel unravel spacetime?

Economist: Can time go backwards?

Astrobiologist: Why time travel can’t really work

Carlo Rovelli: Future time travel only a technological problem, not a scientific one. Rovelli: A starship could wait [near a black hole ] for half an hour and then move away from the black hole, and find itself millennia in the future.

Rob Sheldon’s thoughts on physicists’ “warped” view of time An attempt to force complete symmetry on a universe that does ot want to be completely symmetrical

At the BBC: Still working on that ol’ time machine… BBC: “But using wormholes for time travel won’t be straightforward.” Indeed not. Unless everything is absolutely determined, some wise person from the future has already gone back through a wormhole and altered the present so that we can’t go anywhere.

Is time travel a science-based idea? (2017)

Apparently, a wormhole is our best bet for a time machine (2013)

and

Does a Time Travel Simulation Resolve the “Grandfather Paradox”?

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