Rejoice sci-fi aficionados: University of British Columbia mathematician Ben Tippett thinks that time travel, from a purely mathematical standpoint, is possible.
In fact, he recently published a paper in Classical and Quantum Gravity on the subject.
Tippett’s theory is a bit complicated, but it hinges on his belief that time is not separate from the other three dimensions of space, that they exist simultaneously as a space-time continuum which creates a natural curvature that could theoretically be exploited for time travel.
“There is evidence showing the closer to a black hole we get, time moves slower,” Tippett says. His model of a time machine, which he calls a Traversable Acausal Retrograde Domain in Space-time (or TARDIS – clearly Tippett is a Dr. Who fan), “uses the curved space-time — to bend time into a circle for the passengers, not in a straight line. That circle takes us back in time.”
While Tippett’s time machine model, described in his paper as “a bubble of space-time geometry,” can’t be built anytime soon, his paper is still worth reading.
See the full paper courtesy of IOP Science here.
—RealClearLife
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