‘Theory of everything’: Researchers find intergalactic shortcut to watching yourself pack for yesterday’s trip
Produced by: Manoj Kumar
Hidden Threads
Theoretical “cosmic strings” may hold the key to a “theory of everything” and possibly unlock the door to time travel by warping space-time on a massive scale.
Massive Strings
Despite being thinner than an atomic nucleus, cosmic strings pack immense mass, comparable to tens of thousands of stars. This extreme density could bend space-time enough to enable time loops.
Cosmic Relics
Thought to be remnants from the universe’s early days, cosmic strings formed during a cosmic “phase transition.” These high-energy scars in space-time could be the secret to manipulating time itself.
Time-Warped Paths
Due to their intense gravitational pull, cosmic strings could create “shortcuts” through space-time, making time travel theoretically possible by allowing travelers to “beat” light to distant points.
Loops in Time
According to General Relativity, two cosmic strings moving at near light-speed and crossing paths could create a closed time loop, theoretically allowing one to travel back to a previous point in time.
Dangerous Encounter
A cosmic string passing near Earth could slice the planet in half and warp local space-time enough to disrupt time flow, though this remains a theoretical scenario.
Star Brightness Test
The “brightness spike” technique involves looking at stars in the Milky Way for signs of lensing by cosmic strings. Such an event could reveal a string’s exact location for closer study.
Gravitational Clues
The NANOGrav project recently discovered gravitational waves that hint at cosmic strings’ existence. Long-wavelength ripples in space-time could signify the presence of these elusive objects.
Future Time Travel
Cosmic strings could, in theory, be manipulated by super-advanced civilizations to create stable time loops. Princeton astrophysicist J. Richard Gott suggests these loops might enable back-and-forth time travel if massive energy requirements could be met.