The theoretical possibility of creating a time machine is currently associated with mysterious tunnels in the space-time continuum. These tunnels are called "wormholes". However, before theoretical investigations in this direction began, the first word was spoken by science fiction writers.
Time travel. Herbert Wells
Time travel with a technical device was first described by science fiction writer Herbert Wells. Many decades have passed since then, and during this short time by historical standards, there has been a significant turn in the public consciousness regarding this issue. If before time travel was considered no more than science fiction, now they suddenly turned into a favorite research of theoretical physicists. The famous physicist Kip THORN of the California Institute of Technology once said in one of his lectures: “Previously, time travel was the exclusive prerogative of writers. Serious scholars avoided this question like the plague - even when they wrote novels under a pseudonym or read them in secret. How times have changed!Now in serious scientific journals one can find a scientific analysis of time travel, which belongs to the pen of eminent theoretical physicists …"
The Large Hadron Collider
What is the reason for this change? Physicists just realized that the nature of time is not what it seemed earlier. Time is far from being an abstraction: a thought once expressed by Professor Nikolai Kozyrev in his theory of time. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest particle accelerator, should help scientists better understand the nature of time. It is expected that this device will provide new information about the particles and forces acting in space, as well as reproduce the conditions that arose immediately after the birth of the universe. In the process of working with such energies, it is possible to obtain absolutely amazing effects, up to the curvature of space-time. True, after the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, ordinary people at first were very frightened of the appearance of a giant black hole, which, as it were, could arise and swallow the Earth. But in the future, scientists reassured everyone, convincing that when particles collide in a collider, if a black hole appears, it will be microscopic. At the same time, a theory arose that such a black hole could be used as a vehicle for time travel. confirmed by numerous facts. Today, there are quite different projects of devices that theoretically make it possible to move in time - to the past or the future. However, at the moment, the main one is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In fact, the LHC is a Western name that is little understood by an ordinary person. Our traditional name for this device is particle accelerator. Accelerators existed before in the USSR, USA, Europe, but the LHC, unlike them, is designed to work with energies that were previously impossible to even think about. It was launched in autumn 2008 and is located on the border of Switzerland and France. In its 27-kilometer ring today, they are trying to collide beams of protons accelerated almost to the speed of light.
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Time travel
Thus, a number of physicists seriously believe that the LHC can be used to travel in time. This sensational statement was made by two doctors of physical and mathematical sciences, professors from the Steklov Mathematical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences Irina Arefieva and Igor Volovich. Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Igor Volovich says the following on this issue: “Modern principles of theoretical mathematical physics allow for the possibility of time travel. One of the permissible models of a functioning time machine is the so-called traversable "wormhole" or "wormhole", that is, a space-time tunnel leading to another time or space. In this case, theoretically, there is the possibility of getting to another time through a wormhole,and the probability of the formation of a wormhole in the Large Hadron Collider is comparable to the probability of the formation of a black hole itself, which can arise in the collision of particles with high energy."
Such phenomena are extremely difficult to imagine, because we think in three dimensions, and here we are talking about additional dimensions that do not lend themselves to figurative perception. However, time travel for physicists is a quite realizable question. The known laws allow for this. As the scientists explain, traveling "through a wormhole" is a tunnel connecting different parts of space and time. The entrance to this tunnel can be very different: the size of a star, a planet, a house or a speck of dust - depending on what tasks the tunnel is used for. After all, you can send a photon (if we are talking, for example, about observation), or an expedition. When entering this tunnel, the traveler enters hyperspace (subspace), through which in a matter of moments you can get to another galaxy or the Universe. Or you can - to the past or the future. In terms of physical properties, the entrance to the "wormhole" is very similar to a black hole, but the difference is that you can not only get there, but also return.
However, the theory is still far from practice. One of the unresolved problems with the concept of wormholes is trying to find the power to keep them open to time travel. Some astrophysicists consider this force to be dark energy - a mysterious anti-gravitational mass with which the Universe should theoretically be filled. She, according to scientists, may be exactly what will allow to keep the "wormhole" open, and not to close forever behind the chronotraveller's back. So, with the help of the LHC, it is theoretically possible to get some of this dark energy. This is a very important moment in the creation of a time machine! And an equally important condition necessary for the machine to work is to bend space-time so that it closes in a ring. And the LHC is quite capable of this.
Professor Arefieva explains: “This phenomenon of physics is called a 'closed time-like curve. It allows, at least in theory, to return to the past”. As for the paradoxes of time that can arise during such travels and change the course of history, scientists have foreseen these questions as well.
- We calculated such tasks, - says Igor Volovich. - And we came to the following result: the journey is possible, the course of history can also be changed, but not very significantly.
In other words, a chronotraveller will be able to change local events, but on a global scale, he will not be able to do this due to certain laws. At the very last moment, something will surely happen, which will not allow the implementation of those actions that can lead to dramatic changes in history and cause paradoxes. But in order for the time machine to become a reality, scientists emphasize, it is necessary that the LHC at least reach its design capacity.
“And so far the most we can hope for,” says Igor Vasilyevich, “is that the Large Hadron Collider will demonstrate signs of the existence of wormholes. If part of the collision energy in the collider disappears, then this can be explained by the creation of particles that move in time through the "wormhole".
In the meantime, most scientists are skeptical about the possibility of such a scenario, which is not surprising. All new discoveries have always been accompanied by a chorus of skepticism and ridicule. But the fact remains: the "time machine" today has moved from the realm of fantasy to the category of fundamental scientific research. The question of implementation, apparently, only in time …