Turn back Time
Feb 19th, 2008 by admin
Time travel has always captivated the hearts and minds of people everywhere, and given the chance, few would turn down the opportunity to rewind their life and alter some detail. A group of Russian scientists now claim that time travel could be closer than ever before. They plan to utilize CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to accomplish their goal. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the device, it is the world’s largest scientific instrument. Run in cooperation by France and Switzerland and located in Geneva, the LHC smashes particles in a mammoth underground 27km looping tunnel.
The LHC is being funded and constructed in collaboration with more than nine thousand physicists from more than 32 different countries. When activated, the collider is hypothesized to create an elementary particle based on predictions using the Standard Model of particle physics. Irina Arefa and Igor Volovich, a pair of Russian mathematicians, believe that the event of high intensity particle collisions may create conditions ideal for the formation of wormhole into the future. When the energy that is generated by the LHC is concentrated into a subatomic particle about one trillionth the size of a mosquito, the very fabric of the universe changes fundamentally. A strange blend of space and time known as space-time is created. Their thesis paper claims that proton-proton collisions within the LHC could lead to the formation of compact time machines. The machines would create a new segment of space-time with its own closed system of time-like curves that violate causality. Despite their confidence, many counter arguments exist. Some claim that naturally occurring cosmic rays are more powerful than the LHC yet do not produce the same effects.
The idea of time travel was introduced by Albert Einstein’s colleague Kurt Gödel. Gödel used Einstein’s theory of relativity to suggest that time travel may in fact be possible. Ever since the idea was unveiled back in 1949, it has faced countless attacks from prominent physicists due to its inherent violation of cause and effect. By undermining this concept, the notion of paradoxes is introduced. For instance, if one were to travel back in time and kill their own grandfather, they should technically never exist.
The gravity of large celestial bodies such as the Earth are known to produce very slight distortions in the space-time continuum, however the energy generated by the LHC can distort space-time so much that it loops back onto itself. If two points were to intersect, it would be possible to once again visit a period in space-time that has already passed. The idea is similar to those laid out in 1988 by Professor Kip Thorne and his colleagues. They were able to show that wormholes, or tunnels through space-time, would actually allow travel between two points in time. The idea was popularized by Carl Sagan in his novel Contact, which was later adapted to film. There still exist numerous obstacles to overcome. For example, the wormholes created in the LHC may be so small that only the subatomic particles used to create them will be able to pass through. The question of expanding the possibilities of wormhole travel to a scale more suitable for human passage is no doubt thrilling, but requires an incredible amount of investigation and research before even speculation can be made.
Besides the potential wormhole effects, there exists the possibility that a black hole may be created within the accelerator. The existence of a black hole would be very bad news for the entire planet due to its incredible attractive force. Skepticism surrounds every possible outcome of the experiments, and many people have serious doubts as to whether or not knowledge of any real significance will result from it. However, even if the accelerator is unsuccessful in creating a wormhole or even a black hole, it may help disprove current fundamental theories of physics.
For now, the scientists plan to keep their eyes and sensors peeled for energy lost during the collisions, as it may signify that some of the particles used have slipped through wormholes in a voyage through time. One intriguing prospect involves keeping the wormhole open for an extended period of time. The possible catalyst to this effort comes in the form of so-called dark energy. Dark energy is an anti-gravitational force that has permeated the entire universe since its creation. Its phantom energy may just be the key to keeping the wormhole open. If the mixture of colliding particles and phantom energy actually manages to open a wormhole in the LHC’s tunnel, then mankind will have achieved a feat of epic proportions. The observational evidence for phantom energy exists, but the Russian scientists’ belief in its ability to produce conditions necessary for time travel is simply speculative hope at this point.
The speculation is very extreme by nature, but one cannot discount anything as impossible. Several scientists have challenged the idea already, one even going so far as to say that if the project is a success, he will travel back in time before his last birthday and eat the hat he was given, before he ever receives it! The greatest barrier to the theory’s logic is the inability to fully understand the state of the space-time fabric through which one would potentially be traveling. Overcoming this barrier may require next generation theories such as quantum gravity, in which general relativity and quantum theory are blended into a new model of physics.
