People have been fantasizing about Time Travel since hundreds of years ago. Some people think that there’s a slight possibility that we can actually travel through spacetime in past and future. A recent study conducted at the University of British Columbia and the University of Maryland showed a mathematical model which proves that Time Travel is possible in theory.
The researchers, Ben Tippet and David Tsang came up with a mathematical formula that is, time travel fitting a layperson’s understanding of the concept as moving forwards and backwards through time and space as explained by an external observer. This mathematical formula is based on Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. According to the scientists, people only think that this is possible in movies or fiction but mathematically it has been proved many times.
This study was published in ‘Classical and Quantum Gravity’. The title of the study was TARDIS which is the name of a fictional time traveling machine in a movie ‘Doctor Who’. TARDIS stands for “Traversable Acausal Retrograde Domains In Spacetime”. In real life time always appears to be moving forward but the study describes of a box that would travel faster than the speed of light thus allowing it to move forwards and backwards.
Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity shows that the spacetime is curved and if it wasn’t all the planet and stars would occur in a straight line. This theory also predicted ‘Gravitational Waves’ which was discovered in February 2016. According to this theory, the massive gravity of extremely huge objects such as black hole forces the Spacetime bend around them and form a curve.
This theory was used by Ben Tippet to showcase a model of time machine that will use the curved space time to form a circular for the passengers, this circle will take the passenger backwards and forwards in time. A box which they call it ‘bubble‘ that travels with the speed of light in this circular path will be able to travel through spacetime.
Unfortunately building this Time machine is only theoretically possible according to scientists because it is impossible to bend space time as there is no such object in the world that have very strong gravity that would be able to do that, also one point at intimate connection between time and energy. Another suggests that if one destroys himself in past then how would he be still alive and that there is no future yet to travel.
Mr. Ben Tippet, himself says, “While is it mathematically feasible, it is not yet possible to build a space-time machine because we need materials—which we call exotic matter—to bend space-time in these impossible ways, but they have yet to be discovered,”
While time still ticks forwards, scientists are still working on ways to go backwards but in order for that to happen, you need to conjure more than just theories. As Mr. Ben Tippet says, “Studying spacetime is both fascinating and problematic.” Well, it would really be quite fascinating if we would be actually able to Time Travel one day.