Could time be an emergent property rather than a fundamental feature of our universe?
In short: Current physical theories propose that time may lack an inherent presence within the cosmos. By creating a laboratory "mini universe" using 24,000 ultracold atoms, researchers have demonstrated that the passage of time can emerge naturally from internal changes within a quantum system, without needing an external clock.
Writing in Physical Review Research, University of Birmingham's Professor Giovanni Barontini investigated if time is fundamental or simply an emergent property. His researchers built a basic quantum universe by utilising a 24,000 ultracold atom cloud. By cooling these atoms to mere billionths of a degree above absolute zero, they isolated them via two laser beams of varying frequencies to produce 'bright' and 'dark' zones.
The experiment mimicked cosmic cycles, with the bright region expanding and contracting in a manner resembling a Big Bang followed by a Big Crunch. Crucially, because the system was entirely isolated, the researchers could not rely on an external laboratory clock to track progress. Instead, they discovered that time emerged from the changes in entropy—the disorder or spread—of the atoms as they moved between the two regions.
This mechanism suggests that time is not an independent background that always moves forward, but rather a consequence of relationships between parts of a system. As the distribution of particles in the bright region changed, the system effectively moved through time; when the particle distribution ceased to change, time effectively came to a halt. Such findings offer empirical backing for the Wheeler-DeWitt equation, which views the cosmos as one quantum state lacking an outside clock.
While the 1956 experiment mentioned by SciShow challenged fundamental beliefs about the universe, Barontini's work offers a modern, experimental window into the very fabric of reality. It shifts the perspective of time from a universal constant to a byproduct of quantum interactions and entropy.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Tiny Experiment That Transformed Physics
- Also: Physicists created a tiny universe where time emerged without a clock
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