I’ve
written few articles that detail time. I discussed about how we know time
actually exists, its task in entropy, when it was originated etc. Though, one
theory proposes that time doesn’t exist at all. This theory suggests that as an
alternative of time being an entire part of the space-time continuum, or you
can say the “fourth dimension,” time is an unnecessary and random human
concept. Likewise, supporters of this theory consider that the normal world can
better be described if we eliminate time from the equation and start thinking
of it as the arithmetic order of alteration instead. This idea is satisfactory to a lot of
laypeople, but most scientists usually dismiss the idea without much thought.
This theory is but one means of clarifying dark energy, the mysterious
“anti-gravitational” force that’s accountable for producing the accelerating
expansion of the universe and motivating the galaxies away from each other.
Many people have tried, and failed, to come up with a sensible source for such
a force, but one of the more exciting ideas puts forth a very curious question:
“what if we’re watching it backwards?” What if the universe himself isn’t actually
expanding at forever increasing speed, but time itself is essentially slowing
down, where it will ultimately terminate to exist completely?
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| Image via Lacza |
Astrophysicists
have been tracing the movement of SUPERNOVAE, SUPER EXPLOSION seen
inside the limits of distant galaxies, which are used to approve the expansion
of the universe is happening at an forever increasing speed, stated to as
standard candles. Using the well-known Doppler Effect to see the red-shift in
the wavelengths of light produced from celestial bodies that are drifting away
from us, astrophysicists are able to locate and distinguish how rapidly the
universe is expanding. The Andromeda galaxy is an illustration of this, as it
will strike
with the Milky Way in an expected time of 5 billion years.
There’s
actually one difficulty though, the accurateness of these measurements work
under the supposition that time is constant through all parts of the universe,
which would have great consequences if that were untrue. “If time
gradually slows, but we naively kept using our equations to derive the changes
of the expansion with respect of ‘a standard flow of time, then the simple
models that we have constructed in our paper shows that an ‘effective
accelerated rate of the expansion’ takes place,” say those involved in
publishing the paper. Essentially, this theory proposes that the fourth dimension
of the universe i.e. time, is gradually degrading into a new spatial dimension.
If this were the case, the distant stars we observe as drifting away from us
are just giving off that impression that they are accelerating. “Our
calculations show that we would think that the expansion of the universe is
accelerating,” says Prof Senovilla. “The theory bases it’s idea on one
particular variant of superstring theory, in which our universe is confined to
the surface of a membrane, or brane, floating in a higher-dimensional space,
known as the “bulk”. In billions of years, time would cease to be time
altogether.” “Then everything will be frozen, like a snapshot of one instant,
forever,” Senovilla told New Scientist magazine. “Our planet will be long gone
by then.”
The
idea isn’t completely hogwash. Rendering to the most believed model of
cosmology that aims to explain the beginning of our universe, time itself, came
into being during the big bang. So, it can also vanish, which is just the
opposite effect. There is no need to fear about it happening anytime shortly
though.
Sources
and Further Reading: