Time travel has long been considered impossible due to the existence of causal paradoxes in classical physics. However, a new study suggests that time travel may be mathematically possible in the macroscopic world without creating paradoxes. In 1949, mathematician Kurt Gödel discovered that Albert Einstein’s field equations allowed for closed timelike curves (CTCs), which could theoretically allow an object to travel back in time. While time travel is still technically impossible, the enormous gravitational effect of a black hole could potentially cause such a strong curvature of spacetime that a closed loop is formed. However, causal paradoxes have made time travel seem impossible in the past.
The most well-known paradox is the grandfather paradox, in which a time traveler kills their own grandfather in the past, preventing their own birth in the future. This would mean that the time traveler would not exist in their own time, making time travel impossible. However, the principles of quantum physics allow for time travel without paradoxes, as particles are subject to probabilities. In the macroscopic world, causal paradoxes were thought to be unsolvable until a team of researchers from the University of Queensland found a mathematical solution to the problem.
According to the researchers, the key is to consider both the killing of the grandfather as a local event and the linked events. By allowing multiple local regions to communicate with each other in the presence of a time loop, the researchers found that time travel with free will is possible without logical inconsistencies. The researchers suggest that a time traveler could kill their grandfather in the past and still be born in the future. The researchers also suggest that the principles of their mathematical thought experiment could apply to real-world situations, such as preventing the spread of COVID-19.
In conclusion, while time travel is still technically impossible, the researchers’ mathematical solution to causal paradoxes in the macroscopic world suggests that time travel with free will may be possible without creating logical inconsistencies. Further studies will be needed to determine if these principles can be applied in the real world.
