this post was submitted on 01 May 2026
94 points (98.0% liked)

science

26837 readers
967 users here now

A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.

dart board;; science bs

rule #1: be kind

lemmy.world rules

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
all 27 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] atro_city@fedia.io 38 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

So what does this all mean? Is a time machine just around the corner?

Sadly, no. Our experiment is fully explained by standard physics.

But it does show that negative dwell time is not an artefact. However paradoxical it may seem, it has a directly measurable effect on the atomic cloud that the photon traverses. And it reminds us that there are still lands to discover on the odyssey that is quantum research.

I was awaiting an explanation... now I'm just left wondering.

[–] Avicenna@programming.dev 34 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

That is how %100 of physics articles with cool names feel like, you usually end up with something like "we measured a slightly different voltage which in this context is a signal for the existence of parallel universes"

[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 17 points 23 hours ago (1 children)
[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 1 points 19 hours ago (3 children)
[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago

No, it's a video of the moment the two scientist measured negative time....

It's from the Movie TENET

[–] Watermark710@piefed.social 4 points 18 hours ago

It's a gif from the movie Tenet, which is about negative time.

[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 19 hours ago

I think it's the movie Tenet

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 23 points 1 day ago

Negative time as experienced by most people at the DMV.

[–] korda@aussie.zone 6 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Oh no, it’s the plot from Outer Wilds! Don’t go breaking spacetime.

[–] KingGimpicus@sh.itjust.works 1 points 14 hours ago

Well, part of the plot anyways. Im pretty sure we save spacetime from the big cold dark in the end. Or something.

[–] sorter_plainview@lemmy.today 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So what does this all mean? Is a time machine just around the corner?

Sadly, no. Our experiment is fully explained by standard physics.

But it does show that negative dwell time is not an artefact. However paradoxical it may seem, it has a directly measurable effect on the atomic cloud that the photon traverses. And it reminds us that there are still lands to discover on the odyssey that is quantum research.

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

However paradoxical it may seem, it has a directly measurable effect on the atomic cloud that the photon traverses

So ... a proton exits this 'atomic cloud' before it enters?

[–] Inucune@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Are we potentially getting close to detecting if a tackyon exists?

[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Seems pretty standard model still, more interesting behavior hiding in the indeterminance principle. Still, negative time hints at negative energy which could certainly change the game.

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

negative time hints at negative energy

Energy = mass, and negative mass would have some really bonkers paradoxical behavior...

[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 4 points 23 hours ago

Including the aforementioned time travel via stabilization of wormholes ala Morris–Thorne...

[–] Gsus4@mander.xyz 10 points 1 day ago
[–] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago (2 children)
[–] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 18 hours ago

Here is the paper from 1993 when this was originally tested.

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.71.708

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 2 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Me when I start working a double.

At least no one has invented triples yet...

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Triples exist and they're safe

[–] Zron@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago

I see you’ve never been on call

[–] Libb@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Haven't many people experienced that? It's called scrolling on social media, right?

[–] Get_Off_My_WLAN@fedia.io 10 points 23 hours ago

I think that's time dilation, when your 10 minutes on the phone was actually an hour.