Large Hadron Collider Could Be World's First Time Machine

Three main thoughts entered my mind upon reading this article. The first was "Wonka Vision". In the Willy Wonka movie the little boy was dematerialized into millions of pieces to be transported across the room and arrive there no bigger than a leggo. That and " Beam Me Up, Scotty".

The last one was about how close this is to actually occuring. Time travel has always fascinated me. Whether it could come to fruition or not is still in question.

However, these two scientists think that it may be closer than anyone realizes!

ScienceDaily (Mar. 15, 2011) — If the latest theory of Tom Weiler and Chui Man Ho is right, the Large Hadron Collider -- the world's largest atom smasher that started regular operation last year -- could be the first machine capable of causing matter to travel backwards in time.

"Our theory is a long shot," admitted Weiler, who is a physics professor at Vanderbilt University, "but it doesn't violate any laws of physics or experimental constraints."

One of the major goals of the collider is to find the elusive Higgs boson: the particle that physicists invoke to explain why particles like protons, neutrons and electrons have mass. If the collider succeeds in producing the Higgs boson, some scientists predict that it will create a second particle, called the Higgs singlet, at the same time.

According to Weiler and Ho's theory, these singlets should have the ability to jump into an extra, fifth dimension where they can move either forward or backward in time and reappear in the future or past.

Travelling backwards in time would be awesome. We could see what history "really" was. Have we learned the correct versions? What was life like back in history for the mayans, and did they really think 2012 was going to be doomsday? Did ancient aliens really exist? The list could go on and on.

Who would have thought this would ever even be within our grasp a few decades ago?

As you can tell, this subject is like Christmas morning for me!

"One of the attractive things about this approach to time travel is that it avoids all the big paradoxes," Weiler said. "Because time travel is limited to these special particles, it is not possible for a man to travel back in time and murder one of his parents before he himself is born, for example. However, if scientists could control the production of Higgs singlets, they might be able to send messages to the past or future."

It's always a good thing to know that sneezing somewhere in the past will not change the course of mankind forever. That could take some of the pressure of I suppose.

Sending messages is intriguing. But one would think that could change the course of reality for sure. But that is why they are scientists who get paid well, while I am your average homemaker... They are probably a bit wiser on this subject than me.

I would also assume that anyone receiving those messages would have a real hard time believing they were communicating with someone from another time. It would take more than a nudge for me to believe it.

Ideas impact science fiction

In 2007, the researchers, along with Vanderbilt graduate fellow James Dent, posted a paper titled "Neutrino time travel" that generated a considerable amount of buzz.

Their ideas found their way into two science fiction novels. Final Theory by Mark Alpert, which was described in the New York Times as a "physics-based version of The Da Vinci Code," is based on the researchers' idea of neutrinos taking shortcuts in extra dimensions. Joe Haldeman's novel The Accidental Time Machine is about a time-traveling MIT graduate student and includes an author's note that describes the novel's relationship to the type of time travel described by Dent, Päs, Pakvasa and Weiler.

Ho is a graduate fellow working with Weiler. Their theory is described in a paper posted March 7 on the research website arXiv.org.

Back when I was younger, and the cartoons showed flying cars and time machines, there was an innocence that made many of us believe that we would see these things in our lifetimes. When I read these things, that innoceng hope and willingness to believe in the impossible comes back if that makes sense. The thought of this possibiliy is awe inspiring and kind of scary at the same time IMO.

Will we actually be able to see full body time travel soon? Or do you believe it is just a pipe dream?

There is more information contained in the original article.

You can read more here...
www.sciencedaily.com...

Then the questions begs, what if in the future when we do build this thing, and we find a way to send messages and possibly travel back in time, who's to say anyone will even know what it is we're looking at. What if all of the ufos we've seen throughout history which seem to progress from look a like airplanes of today (when they weren't even thought of) to high tech space ships being reported today, and also the ancient astronaut theory and reports, what if they are actually us in the future travelling back in time?

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe


I have absolutely no scientific basis for the coming statement but...I think time travel is possible. Only because I believe that in an infinite universe with infinite possibilities, traveling through time just by virtue of being a possibility is in fact do-able. The real issue is, if we do actually figure it out, what will we do with it? The very first thing that would happen is those in power or with the resources and opportunity will take control of the technology in order to make themselves infinitely powerful and their decimate their enemies. We're probably better off without it.

If you could send a message back, you could cause the grand father paradox.

Are these Phd's so short sighted?

Hi my grandfather, this is me your future grandson. Please kill yourself for science to see how I will be born to write this......

idiots

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe

Will we actually be able to see full body time travel soon? Or do you believe it is just a pipe dream?

They state in the article only a special type of article will be able to travel back, this method of time travel, IF it works, will not allow for full body time travel. I believe full body time travel into the past is pretty much impossible, unless the mere act of your existence in the past causes a new path of events to spring off from your normal time-line, but that requires one to believe time works in such a way.

There are however, very promising theories that will allow us to send messages into the future. The point of doing such a thing? You tell me.

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe

I find the LHC very interesting and essential if we are going to expand out knowledge of our universe.

Star and flag for the thought provoking post!

If this was ever possible, why would you try to communicate with past? There would be no receiving equipment to pass the message. Personally i would send the message into the future. The same future which had the technology the whole time. We could exponentially accelerate human technological growth. In, if you think about it, no time at all!

The grandfather paradox is one of the stupidest things I've ever read.. How is killing your grandfather in the past going to have any effect on you in the present. It's not. You are mass, you exist of atoms, you are already embedded in time.

I think if you go back in time, you are not influencing anything, rather you are "watching" it. And no offense O.P., this is very interesting to me but honestly i think this is just scientists getting their hopes up and trying to get publicity about this. If the particles "jump" back in time, how are they even supposed to measure that? There is no way to tell where they go. If they jump back in time even milliseconds scientists in the present are not going to be able to know this.. The same scientists milliseconds in the past will be able too see "new" particles pop up out of nowhere and who knows what they will think of this.

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe


I love the idea of time travel..sign me up I'll go!

forgot S&F on your post!
now lets see somewhere around here I have a to do list of all the mysteries I want solved...very thought provoking post loved it!

If this is possible..be sure that the government will immediately make sure no one knows this is possible and use the machine for their greedy purposes

Originally posted by SecretxHouse
If this is possible..be sure that the government will immediately make sure no one knows this is possible and use the machine for their greedy purposes

You'd think they would be the first to know. If were in this deep already, im sure the government would love to go back in time and go double or nothing on some ancient culture.

reply to post by TheForgottenOnes


Star for you along with everyone else. Very good point. I had to read it twice while my brain smoked slightly.

I had not thought of that, but it could be entirely possible if time travel is as well. The thought that different people are currently living in different "times" boggles my mind still. If we all (each different time period. past/present/future) think we are living in the present, it becomes more difficult to wrap your mind around any theory that states otherwise.

You have definitely given me more ideas to ponder on. Thanks for that.

Originally posted by budaruskie
reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe

 

I have absolutely no scientific basis for the coming statement but...I think time travel is possible. Only because I believe that in an infinite universe with infinite possibilities, traveling through time just by virtue of being a possibility is in fact do-able. The real issue is, if we do actually figure it out, what will we do with it? The very first thing that would happen is those in power or with the resources and opportunity will take control of the technology in order to make themselves infinitely powerful and their decimate their enemies. We're probably better off without it.

I agree with you completely. I think it is entirely possible as well. The more time I take to look around at the great structures, artifacts, and drawings etc. of the past, the more plausible it seems to me. I am not a scientist by any means, but my common sense kicks in upon occasion. I have seen artifacts that literally scream that people from the past were visited by people from the future.

I also believe like you on your second point. If time travel is ever achieved, only the elite will have access and it will probably be used more for person gain than personal growth.

Thanks for replying!

if the people developing it say it will only transport certain particles then i guess that is the end of the time travel discussion. i do agree that sending a message back in time may have an effect on the present. but noone knows and that is how it will always be. people have always contemplated on the grandfather effect. in my opinion it could happen. but first we should focus on moving more than one particle. let alone a note/human.

Originally posted by WhizPhiz
reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe

 

Will we actually be able to see full body time travel soon? Or do you believe it is just a pipe dream?

They state in the article only a special type of article will be able to travel back, this method of time travel, IF it works, will not allow for full body time travel. I believe full body time travel into the past is pretty much impossible, unless the mere act of your existence in the past causes a new path of events to spring off from your normal time-line, but that requires one to believe time works in such a way.

There are however, very promising theories that will allow us to send messages into the future. The point of doing such a thing? You tell me.

See, I was hoping if we acheived this then we may be able to eventually do full body time travel. Maybe one day it will be less than a pipe dream.

I am sure sending a message into the future would have benefits somewhere down the line. Maybe they would not be so sure of the accuracy of their historical teachings either. That old saying "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it" is pretty accurate. We could help with that certainly. If they could communicate back, then we might receive cures for many diseases, increase our technology, and just learn what comes down the line for future generations.

reply to post by Kargun


With the multiple worlds theory, the grandfather paradox is pretty much rendered moot. If you did go back and kill your grandfather, that choice would simply result in the creation of a branching timeline parallel to the one from which you came from. The offshoot of this, however, is that the simple act of time traveling alone shifts the traveler into a timeline that is not his original. Nor would he be able to return to his original timeline.

reply to post by LogicMan07


Certainly no offense taken as I find your points valid as well.

I am not nearly intelligent enough to explain how they know anything about it. It could very well be reported to increase attention/funding/awareness etc. But it is thought provoking none the less and it is an enjoyable subject to discuss with others. I can only go by what they say since I am no scientist. It would be nice (IMO) if they were correct and we found a way to make this sci-fi scenario a reality.

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe


agreed 100%... It would be awesome to go back in time, and I do think it maybe possible to do in our universe, but I do not believe we'll find a way to even send particles back in our lifetime.. Im just curious how they are going to know if they send these particles back in time......

reply to post by LogicMan07


That's a pretty valid question. I suppose it wouldn't reappear with a timestamp on it's passport.

Something to think aboutfor sure.