This Breakthrough In Quantum Physics Could Help Us Get Close To Time Travel

Recently, an entire molecule has been placed into a quantum superposition state by a team of researchers. This is the largest object to ever been put and observed in such a state – occupying two places at the same time. And this breakthrough might be one that defines the far-future technology.

Quantum physics is a scientific study field that is almost based on faith. This isn’t our fault since the universe is complex and infinite. Us, human beings have only been here for a short amount of time. So it’s understandable that we can’t completely grasp all the rules. Therefore, we need to rely on theories to explain things that we are unsure of.

Up until now, we still didn’t figure out whether the previous work in the quantum physics field would ever be applied in the real world. In quantum mechanics’ basic concepts, superposition is one of them. The idea, essentially, is about how an object can be in be at more than one “arrangement” at once. For instance, if in the classical world, one thing could either be “here” or “there”, then in the quantum world, it is also “here” and “there.”

When observing an entire molecule been placed in a quantum superposition state, Physicist Markus Arndt and a team of researchers were the first ones to witness the evidence of the two worlds’ reconciliation. Or, at least, they have recorded what seems to be the strongest evidence for the existence of a bridge between them.

Not all things we see and experience are what supposed to happen in the quantum world. A tree being in two places at once? This doesn’t mean they “saw” with their own eyes superposition. Rather, they observed the state through measurements.

This breakthrough, according to Arndt, would boggle the mind. In an interview with Popular Mechanics, he said.

So someday it will be possible for us to put people, vehicles, and even sports equipment into quantum states? Maybe. At the moment, scientists are trying to find a hard limit to superposition. What would that mean, exactly?

One theory involves harnessing quantum mechanics’ powers to place gigantic objects like stars and planets into a superposition state. Theoretically, this would allow anyone who has a “place giant things into superposition” app to manipulate space-time.

This would be time-travel, which allows us to move around the universe while not having to worry about the passage of time.

Arndt and his team of researchers didn’t just get a molecule out of nowhere and put it into superposition. Instead, they made a synthetic molecule out of 2,000 atoms as well as a special interferometer to have the best conditions for their observation. We might have to wait a millennium or two before we can observe something at a billiard ball or a planet-size in a quantum superposition state.

But, there is already a road map for that.