No one has been able to travel through time, but its theoretical ability is still an interesting topic for scientists around the world. This idea, popularized by films like “The Terminator” and “Back to the Future,” raises fundamental questions about the laws of the universe.
Germain Tobar, a physics student at the University of Queensland in Australia, achieved a major breakthrough a few years ago. He was able to formulate a solution that reconciles time travel with the absence of paradoxes.
Tobar’s perspective on classical dynamics suggests that understanding the state of a system at a given time can reveal its entire path. However, this contradicts Einstein’s general relativity, which allows for the possibility of time loops, which fundamentally changes the study of dynamics.
Time travel without paradoxes
Tobar’s calculations suggest that space-time can adapt to avoid paradoxes. For example, if the time traveler prevented a disease in the past, the disease could still have spread via another route, which would resolve the paradox.
Tobar’s research investigates deterministic processes in different regions of spacetime, suggesting that time loops can exist with free will and the principles of classical physics. Fabio Costa, a physicist at the University of Queensland and supervisor of Tobar’s research, highlights the importance of these discoveries.
His research suggests that although time travel could allow past events to be manipulated, the universe will self-correct to avoid paradoxes. This hypothesis suggests that time travel, although it allows freedom of action, inherently prevents the creation of paradoxes.
UQ physics professor Fabio Costa, left, talks to science graduate student German Tobar/Source: Hu Fu/UQ
While the mathematical foundation of time travel seems solid, the practicalities of bending space and time remain a challenge. Current scientific models of time machines exist only in theoretical calculations.
The possibility of current time travel, an idea that Stephen Hawking considered viable, would mean a future where we can interact with the past without fear of creating contradictions.
Costa highlights that any attempt to create a time travel paradox would be naturally resolved by the universe, while maintaining consistency. This discovery opens new paths to understanding the logical feasibility of time travel in our universe without paradoxes.
The research, published in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity, builds on an earlier version from September 2020, marking an important milestone in theoretical physics and our understanding of time.
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