Research says that causality, not time, is the primary characteristic of our universe.
Physicists believe that there may be no time at all. The researchers argue that time has no place in the new formulas for combining quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity.
«Physics is in crisis. For the past century, we have been explaining the universe in terms of two extremely successful theories: general relativity and quantum mechanics», — noted the author of the book Out of Time, a physicist from the Australian Catholic University Sam Baron.
According to him, quantum mechanics successfully substantiates work in an incredibly tiny world of particles and their interactions. At the same time, the general theory of relativity describes the general picture of gravity and the movement of objects.
These theories largely contradict each other. Therefore, scientists believe that they should be replaced by one common one.
In particular, we are talking about the theory «quantum gravity», which should explain how gravity works on the smallest scale.
«But creating a new theory of quantum gravity is an extremely difficult task. One such attempt was string theory. She replaced the particles with strings vibrating in 11 dimensions. However, string theory ran into some difficulties. The theory describes a universe similar to ours, but does not provide any clear predictions that can be tested through experiments. Thus, the theory put forward can neither be confirmed nor refuted», — added scientists.
The most famous approach after that was loop quantum gravity. It says that the fabric of space and time consists of a network of very small discrete fragments, in other words «loops». One of the most significant features of loop quantum gravity is the abolition of time.
«Loop quantum gravity is not the only theory that rules out time. A number of other approaches also abolish time as a fundamental aspect of reality. There are no tables, chairs, or even people in the theories of physics, and yet we still know that they all exist. We know perfectly well that all of the above consists of fundamental particles, but we have no idea what «consists of» time. Until we can give a clear explanation of how time arises, it is unclear whether we can say that it exists», — emphasized the author of the book.
According to him, based on this, time may not exist in any of the available theories.
However, theories leave the causal relationship intact. That is, physics says that causality, not time, is the main characteristic of our universe.
«We believe that the discovery that time does not exist may not have much impact on our lives , but will be able to lead physics into a new era», — summed up the author.