?Can we reverse time using quantum physics
Researchers at the University of Vienna have reportedly succeeded in forcing a photon of light to return to its previous state before it passes through a crystal.
Scientists relied on a fundamental principle of the subatomic world: superposition. At this scale, a particle would be capable of existing in two states simultaneously. Using a quantum switch, scientists were able to return an electron and a photon to their previous state and make leaps in time on the order of nanoseconds.
“In a movie theater, [classical physics] a movie is shown from start to finish, no matter what the audience wants. But at home [the quantum world], we have a remote control (…). We can go back to a previous scene or skip several upcoming scenes.” explains one of the researchers, Miguel Navascués.
?Is it possible to bring quantum particles into the future
They discovered the possibility of trading time between identical physical systems: “In a one-year experiment with ten systems, you could steal a year from each of the first nine systems and give them all to the tenth,” explain the scientists. At the end of the year, the tenth system will have aged ten years; the other nine will remain the same as at the start of the experiment. You will have understood: it is not a time machine, it is only the physical state that changes.
But one of the principles of quantum physics is that the simple observation of a system... causes it to change! This does not pose a problem for this experience. It is possible to run it without knowing the system, or even the details of particle interaction.
?Quantum switch: what are the applications for humans in the future
The possibility of carrying out this experiment on a larger scale seems to exceed today's technical means. It would take millions of years to make a person one second younger, because a human being is a complex physical system containing an enormous amount of information.
For now, this discovery could allow researchers to cancel out errors during their development, by inverting the qubit states of a quantum processor, and thus help improve the precision of quantum computers in the future.
Source: websites