Two different chemical group have examine a seemingly counter - visceral property of the quantum mankind : That it ’s possible to put a photon , a particle of lighting , in a superposition of nation run low forward and backwards in clip . This is not clock time travel and wo n’t lead to communicating with the past tense – but it is an challenging demonstration of how time can be think to work at a quantum level .
Unless you have a TARDIS or a DeLorean , fourth dimension only flow in one direction ( ahead ) for us . This annoying little fact that protects us from all sort of paradoxes is calledthe pointer of time . It is believed to be related to the construct of entropy ( which always increases in an isolated organization like the universe ) but it does n’t seem to be as key at the quantum level .
rather , something that is likely cardinal is the so - called CPT symmetry ( bang , conservation of parity , and time reversal isotropy ) . This hold for all physical phenomenon , and if a combination of two of them is violated ( such as excellently the CP violations ) there ought to be a usurpation in time symmetry as well .
late research suggested thatit was possibleto have photons in a superposition of state backward and forwards in time . Now , that mind has been demonstrated through an experiment . Superposition is a quantum phenomenon where a particle is in multiple states at once . Only when it is measured does the particle settles into one of them .
In one of the experiment , a photon was placed on a superposition of process as it moved through a crystal . Photons have no charge , so by exchange parity ( mirroring its apparent movement in 3-D ) it is equivalent to the doings of a photon move back in time . The physical process called quantum time flip was demonstrated .
Again , the workplace does n’t allow us to change the past tense . However , it might have some interesting applications in quantum computers , especially when it comes to logical operations , the crucial computer architecture of computer processes . The power to have quantum clock time toss could allow for better performance and switch stimulus and turnout .
The papers discuss these experiments are awaiting peer brushup and are available on the ArXivhereandhere .
[ h / t : New Scientist ]
