Sorry Folks...Time Travel is Impossible Forever
Scottish-based scientists have discovered that the nuclei of some atoms are not symmetrical.
This finding challenges some of the fundamental concepts of physics.
It could explain why there is more matter than antimatter - but it may also end hopes of time travel.
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| Source : google images |
The Universe has a fundamental problem. Why is there so much stuff in it?
Think back to the Big Bang. That's a bit of a stretch, admittedly. It was getting on for 14 billion years ago (approximately)
The Big Bang is the prevailing theory about how everything we know began. The theory states that the Bang created equal amounts of matter and antimatter.
But Where is all the antimatter?
Scientists at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) think they can point to the reason. Although it could mean the textbooks will need a rewrite.
Most of the fundamental theories of physics are based on symmetry. That symmetry dictates, among other things, that the nuclei of atoms can be one of just three shapes: spherical, discus or rugby ball.
But Dr Marcus Scheck at UWS and Professor Peter A Butler of the University of Liverpool have discovered a fourth form of nucleus.
It's pear-shaped.
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| Photo Credit : CERN |
They first discovered the pear shape in the nucleus of the isotope Radium-224.
It's a pretty out-there hypothesis, but Scheck says that this uneven distribition of mass and charge causes Barium-144's nucleus to 'point' in a certain direction in spacetime, and this bias could explain why time seems to only want to go from past to present, and not backwards, even if the laws of physics don't care which way it goes.
The pear-shaped distribution of particles violates the so-called CP-symmetry. CP stands for charge and parity. In C-symmetry, if you switch every particle for its antiparticle, they are expected to behave in the same way. Anti-hydrogen will behave like hydrogen, for example. The P-symmetry is about space: A system can be inverted, like in a mirror, and the physics should still be the same.
CP-symmetry suggests that for every particle spinning anticlockwise and decaying in a certain direction, there’s an antiparticle spinning clockwise and decaying in the opposite direction. Violation of C and CP symmetry are proposed and expected to explain the lack of antimatter in the universe, but so far only a handful of examples have been found.
Direction in time
In other words, a pear-shaped nucleus points to why our Universe contains so much more matter than antimatter.
But that's not all it points to.
Dr Scheck says: "We've found these nuclei literally point towards a direction in space. This relates to a direction in time, proving there's a well-defined direction in time and we will always travel from past to present."
So time travel would appear to be a non-starter.
Dr Scheck will now lead a team to repeat the experiment. They'll be doing it at the Isotope Separator On Line Detector (ISOLDE) facility at CERN in Switzerland.
So what does all of this have to do with time travel?
It's a pretty out-there hypothesis, but Scheck says that this uneven distribition of mass and charge causes Barium-144's nucleus to 'point' in a certain direction in spacetime, and this bias could explain why time seems to only want to go from past to present, and not backwards, even if the laws of physics don't care which way it goes.
Of course, there's no way of proving that without further evidence, but the discovery is yet another indication that the Universe might not be as symmetrical as the Standard Model of Physics needs it to be, and proving that could usher us into a whole new era of theoretical physics.
The research gives us a deeper insight into where - and why - we are.
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I'm glad. Time travel would have had irreversible repercussions. Though many horrible events that resulted in great loss of life have occurred in the past, we must still keep moving on and fighting through the pain! One day, we will have peace on Earth and throughout the rest of the Universe!
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