Scientists
were recently able to "warp" time at the smallest scale ever.
According to Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, time can be warped
in the presence of strong gravitational fields/high speeds. When this happens,
it's called time dilation.
Clocks
also tick differently in different environments - depending on gravity. Now,
scientists at JILA were able to measure time dilation at the smallest scale
ever with help from the most accurate clocks on the planet.
JILA is
a joint operation between the National Institute of Standards and Technology
and the University of Colorado Boulder. With this experiment, they've open
gateways of developing clocks that are about 50 times more accurate than the
ones available today, Vice reported.
The
study published in Nature on Wednesday claims that the achievement could help
unlock various physical mysteries of the universe, including the "union of
general relativity and quantum mechanics."
The goal
of these scientists is to conceptually marry time with space, implying that
both are intertwined with each other and are relative to each other's effects.
Over the last few years, JILA scientists have been trying to pioneer time
accuracy through atomic clocks - considered the most accurate ways to measure
time, with the capability to lose only one second over 15 billion years.
With atomic clocks becoming more accurate, scientists could look at waves of atoms at "the curvature of space-time, where the classical and quantum worlds clash." The group of scientists at JILA has managed to measure time dilation at a distance of just a millimeter. This small-scale achievement could help scientists understand the effects of time dilation over longer distances.
Reference:
Ferreira,
B. (2022, February 16). Scientists Make Breakthrough in Warping Time at Smallest Scale Ever. Vice.
0 Comments