Time could flow both backward, forward in quantum realm, suggests study

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Time could flow both backward, forward in quantum realm, suggests study

In our lived reality, we perceive time as a linear progression moving in one direction. While today gives way to tomorrow and the day after and so on in the real world, new findings show that time can flow in opposite directions in the quantum realm.

A study conducted by scientists from the School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Surrey in the *** explored the behavior of time for a quantum system using a set of equations. To their surprise, they came across opposing arrows of time. These arrows are theoretical proofs of

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at the quantum level.

“Our findings suggest that while our common experience tells us that time only moves one way, we’re just unaware that the opposite direction would have been equally possible,”

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Andrea Rocco, one of the authors of the study and an associate professor at the University of Surrey.

Flow of time at the quantum level

The study authors made two assumptions to understand the unidirectional flow of time in a quantum system. Their first assumption was that the environment surrounding a quantum system is enormous and complex, so to focus on the system, they should skip the details of its environment.

The next assumption was related to the flow of energy and information. They assumed that just like in the macroscopic world when energy or some information leaves the system, it never returns.

Using these assumptions, the team employed mathematical models to describe the evolution of the quantum system’s state over time. They specifically looked at how the system’s equations behaved when time was considered to move forward versus backward.

Surprisingly, despite the quantum system’s openness and the assumptions made, the equations remained unchanged whether

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or forward. This means the basic laws governing the system followed time-reversal symmetry.

“In our derivation, two opposing arrows of time are obtained. We demonstrate this by analyzing several examples of reduced Markovian dynamics resulting from microscopic open quantum systems models, which initially possess time-reversal symmetry,” the study authors

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.

“This discovery provided a mathematical foundation for the idea that time-reversal symmetry still holds in open quantum systems—suggesting that time’s arrow may not be as fixed as we experience it,” they added.

A sudden break in time

Besides the opposing arrows, researchers noticed another interesting element in their equations.

Generally, most physical equations involve smooth, continuous changes. However, their mathematical models highlighted the presence of a time-discontinuous factor—a sudden shift or break in how time is represented in the system.

“We also found a small but important detail which is usually overlooked—a time discontinuous factor emerged that keeps the time-symmetry property intact,” said Thomas Guff, lead study author and a research fellow at the University of Surrey.

“It’s unusual to see such a mathematical mechanism in a physics equation because it’s not continuous, and it was very surprising to see it pop up so naturally,” he added.

These findings reveal that the relationship between time and physics isn’t always consistent, it may change abruptly when we take a deep dive into the quantum world. Therefore, further research is required to improve our understanding of time.

The

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has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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