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What would happen to you if you went back in time and killed your grandfather? A model using photons reveals that quantum mechanics can solve the quandary—and even foil quantum cryptography.
Recent experiments offer tentative support for time travel's feasibility—at least from a mathematical perspective. The study cuts to the core of our understanding of the universe, and the resolution of the possibility of time travel, far from being a topic worthy only of science fiction, would have profound implications for fundamental physics as well as for practical applications such as quantum cryptography and computing.
The source of time travel speculation lies in the fact that our best physical theories seem to contain no prohibitions on traveling backward through time. The feat should be possible based on Einstein's theory of general relativity, which describes gravity as the warping of spacetime by energy and matter. An extremely powerful gravitational field, such as that produced by a spinning black hole, could in principle profoundly warp the fabric of existence so that spacetime bends back on itself. This would create a "closed timelike curve," or CTC, a loop that could be traversed to travel back in time.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/time-travel-simulation-resolves-grandfather-paradox/
[Related]: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/according-to-current-phys/
[Abstract]; http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140619/ncomms5145/full/ncomms5145.html
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 04 2014, @10:38AM
Oooooo negative energy. The same stuff that powers real-world warp drive!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 04 2014, @10:43AM
Yes, the (US) plug has been filed, so it will go in to the socket either way and connected the wrong way, which gives negative energy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 04 2014, @01:33PM
And stabilizes wormholes.
Has anyone figured out how to build a Heisenberg compensator using negative energy?
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Friday September 12 2014, @05:04AM
You'll need one big set of balls to compensate for Heisenberg.... oh... you mean the original one.