In today’s world of science and technology, nothing seems impossible. The most intriguing of them is the concept of time travel, most of us might have seen fictional movies or read books about time travel and the concept mesmerizes us. At one point or another in our life, we all want to travel in time. But is time travel possible?
It may be possible or may not be but scientists have found a way to reverse the direction of time using a quantum computer, according to a breakthrough study. The research shows and increases our understanding of the quantum computers but it totally contradicts the basic law of physics.
This breakthrough experiment was carried on by the researchers of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology(MIPT), And it says to have reversed time in a quantum computer. This experiment was possible with the help of other scientists from the US and Switzerland. And they are hoping to work on that technique, again and again, to make it more and more reliable.
Lead researcher Dr. Gordey Lesovik, who heads the laboratory of physics of quantum information at the MIPT, said: “we have artificially created a state that evolves in a direction opposite to that of thermodynamics arrow of time”. To perform this time reversal, the researchers used a quantum computer made up of two or three superconducting qubits.
A qubit is a unit of information described by a “one” a “zero” or a mixed Superposition of both States. In simple words, Qubits are the fundamental building blocks of quantum devices. Just as cells are the building blocks of life.
The researches conducted an experiment where they altered the Qubits which made the Qubits become an increasingly complex changing pattern of ones and zeros.
Let us cite an example of pools balls being struck when we hit the balls the pyramid formed gets disturbed and it gets out of order. Similarly, due to the alterations of the Qubits, the order was lost. But then another program modified the state of the quantum computer in such a way that it evolved backward from chaos to order.
It means that after the first hit the pool balls get out of order but another hit at a perfect place will bring them back to be a pyramid again. Which means that the state of Qubits was rewound back to its original starting point.
Recap of the qubits experiment
- Each qubit was kept neutral in order.
- With a controlled programme they were disturbed and made out of order.
- With a special programme, the qubits were made to move to their original order, thus reversing time or regeneration of time.
If you have a good knowledge of physics you would know that most of the laws of physics work both ways i.e if you watch a video of a pool ball hitting another pool ball and then you watch it backward, the physical process of both would make sense and it won’t be possible at the level of physics to define which way around would be correct.
The second law of thermodynamics, which deceives the progression from order to disorder goes only in one way. i.e if you see a video of a breaking of the pool ball pyramid and then watch it back then it will totally be nonsensical. It’s like giving the pool balls such a hit on a perfect place that it comes back to its original positions, Which has a very low probability.
But the scientist has great hopes that they could break out the technique of time travel with this experiment. The scientists found that working with two qubits “time reversal” was achieved with a success rate of 85 percent. When they tried using three qubits more errors occurred, resulting in a 50 percent success rate. Dr. Lesovik said: “our algorithm could be updated and used to test programmes written for quantum computers and eliminate noise and errors”.
The scientists said that they could decrease the error rate by the sophistication of the devices used and according to them the experiment will give us a piece of great knowledge about the quantum computer and who knows this might be the initial steps which will lead us to travel time.
