'100 years of paradoxes':  A physicist is saying time travel may finally be possible

Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh

Paradox Problem

Time travel has long been dismissed due to paradoxes like the "grandfather paradox," which suggests altering the past could erase one’s existence.

Relativity’s Loops

Einstein’s general relativity predicts the existence of closed timelike curves—space-time loops allowing theoretical travel back to past events.

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Rotating Universe

In a rotating universe, space-time could warp into loops, enabling a traveler to return not just to a location but also to a point in time.

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Entropy Mystery

Entropy, the measure of disorder, governs aging, memory, and irreversible events, raising questions about how it behaves in time loops.

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Quantum Twist

Lorenzo Gavassino, a physicist at Vanderbilt University, published research showing quantum fluctuations in time loops could reverse entropy, nullifying paradoxes.

Self-Consistency

Using quantum mechanics, Gavassino demonstrated how time loops align events to create logically consistent histories, resolving contradictions.

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Reversing Death

On a time loop, entropy’s reversal could theoretically undo aging, memory loss, and even death, making irreversible events temporary.

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Practical Limits

Despite the theory, physicists like Stephen Hawking proposed the "chronology protection conjecture," suggesting time loops might never form due to space-time singularities.

New Horizons

Even if time loops don’t exist, studying their theoretical behavior could deepen our understanding of entropy, quantum mechanics, and the universe’s fundamental laws.

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