Scientists have observed the effects of “negative time.” A discovery straight out of a science fiction novel.
This phenomenon is likely to shake up studies of quantum physics. The ability to go back or move forward in time has long fascinated scientists around the world. Like Dr. Emmett Brown, father of the DeLorean of Back to the futuremany of them want to unravel the mysteries of the time flow.
Even if we are far from the revolution that was Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, the discovery of Aephraim Steinberg and Daniela Anguloresearchers at the University of Toronto, is no less surprising. By delving into the twists and turns of quantum physics, they observed unexpected reactions between photons (tiny particles of light) and atoms placed in an excited state. This rise in energy was favored by the passage of photons through the atom. When they come into contact, the latter absorbs the light particles before re-emitting them immediately. This encounter temporarily places the atom in a higher energy or “excited” state.
For scientists, this experiment aimed to measure the duration of excitation of atoms after the passage of photons. During their research, they discovered that these intervals were less than zero. On the scale of quantum physics, they are therefore negative! The uniqueness of these results has attracted both attention and skepticism from researchers around the world.
And this is understandable, even imagining it, it is difficult to believe it. Take cars entering a tunnel: if the average entry time for 1,000 cars is set at noon, this would mean that the first ones can exit a little earlier, at 11:59. In our example, Angulo and his colleagues’ discovery would be like measuring the carbon monoxide in the tunnel after the cars pass by… and realizing that the readings are negative.
German physicist Sabine Hossenfelder also criticized this work in a YouTube video. “The negative time in this experiment has nothing to do with the passage of time. It’s just a way of describing how photons move through a medium and how their phases change.” Steinberg acknowledged a provocative title, before adding that this research nevertheless fills critical gaps about the speed of light and its variability.
“We don’t want to say that something traveled into the past,” he lamented. “That’s a bad interpretation.” And for good reason! In quantum mechanics, particles escape all classical logic. Here, everything is vague and probabilistic, far from the strict rules to which we are accustomed. This is why there is still a long way to go before joining Marty McFly in his adventures.