A team of researchers from the University of Toronto has introduced the concept of “negative time,” challenging conventional ideas of time in quantum mechanics. While the discovery has sparked significant interest, it has also faced skepticism from some in the scientific community.
Led by Daniela Angulo and Aephraim Steinberg, the team conducted experiments in the university’s basement laboratory, revealing the existence of negative time—previously thought to be an illusion caused by wave interactions with matter.
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The concept emerged while investigating how light interacts with atoms. In the experiment, photons passed through atoms, causing them to temporarily become excited before returning to their normal state. Surprisingly, the time the atoms remained excited was measured as negative.
To illustrate this, Steinberg compared it to a scenario where cars enter a tunnel at noon, but the first cars emerge at 11:59 am. Though this result would usually be dismissed, the researchers argue that it demonstrates the quantum nature of light and its interaction with matter.
Despite sounding like science fiction, they assert that negative time provides valuable insight into quantum mechanics, where particles behave probabilistically rather than deterministically.
The researchers clarify that their discovery does not imply time travel but reflects quantum mechanics principles. They stress that their findings do not contradict Einstein’s theory of special relativity, which states nothing can travel faster than light. Some scientists, like German physicist Sabine Hossenfelder, have criticized the discovery, suggesting it doesn’t relate to time but to the way photons travel through a medium.
Nonetheless, Angulo and Steinberg defend their work as essential for understanding light’s behavior and quantum phenomena.
