An investigation into the behavior change of a single bit Quantum over time has revealed a tempting resemblance to the geometry of three -dimensional space – which can be an emanation of time. But separating the space from time would violate the laws from Einstein’s special relativity.
Nineteenth -century physicists came from the principle that the space was distinct from time “And two investigators now suspect that they were right.”
Its conclusion, which results from the analysis of the behavior of qubitscalls into question the currently dominant idea that the Tetradimensional space-time is the fundamental fabric of reality physical.
One qubit It is an object that has two possible states – for example, two different rotations.
For being quantum, a qubit can also exist in combinations of these states that any familiar object could never assume – a phenomenon known as overlap.
For years, physicists have considered mathematics of the states of qubits “Extremely suggestive” of a deeper connection with space geometry, it says Vlatko Vedralresearcher at Oxford University, quoted by.
Now, Vedral and James Fullwoodfrom the University of Hainan, China, presented a mathematical argument on how space geometry can be coded in the behavior of a qubit In time.
Started with a mathematical model for a single qubit that could be subjected to a sequence of measurements over a certain period of time.
Within this model – and without taking anything on the initial state of the qubit – analyzed What would be the correlations Among the results of such measurements when considered at different time intervals.
The process is a bit like analyzing whether what qubit is doing today is related with what was doing 24 hours beforeThen compare with what was doing 48 hours before, and so on.
During the study, the researchers found that the structure of these correlations was mathematically similar to a three -dimensional space.
Specifically, from the behavior of a qubit over timethe investigators obtained a formula for measuring distances in space – the so -called “Euclidian metric”.
Vedral says that The geometry of the space in which we live is more complex than the version they have discovered through their qubit behavior calculations over time.
But the recovery of the Euclidian metric from such a minimal configuration and without prior knowledge of the qubit may still be an indication that the space is related to time and quantum information.
“AND interesting that a single qubit is sufficient For a totally three -dimensional euclidean space, ”he says.
But there is Another implication tempting in the study conclusions, available in pre-publication in ARXIV: which Time is somehow separate from spacewhy the geometry of the latter can be derived from that.
Space and time are usually considered components of a continuum quadridimensional that we know as spacetime and is underlying our physical world.
Separate them would violate the laws of the special relativity of Albert Einstein And, as such, it is a controversial idea among physicists. There are, however, other researchers who argue that space and time must be separated.
For example, Lee Smolinresearcher at the Perimeter Institute, in Canada, says that, in his opinion, Time is more fundamental than space. However, it does not think that time exists in a way that can be captured with the equations of the new study.
Its hypothesis, which is not current either“Time is not something that is frozen or that needs structure” but must be understood as a succession of moments present that occur to each other – Without any physically significant or known past or future.
Thomas Galleyfrom the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information in Vienna, Austria, says it can be intuitive to think that time is somewhat different from space simply because either we feel as such.
But an exhaustive mathematical understanding of what this means in the context of qubits It is still quite difficult.
For example, Galley points out that the new study, although interesting, does not elucidate a exact mechanism through which space would emerge from qubit and from time.
In addition, the proposition that “qubit longer is equal to space”It may not be unique as it may be possible to change the qubit for a more complicated quantum object and yet extract an Euclidean metric, says Galley.
Vedral states that in the future it may be possible to test some of these theoretical ideas through experiences.
Ultra-cold quantum objects can assume as the quibit of the new work, as well as the physical quibits similar to those used in quantum computers.
But it is likely that they still subsist Many mathematical questionswhich means that physicists can continue to debate the way we should think of spacetime in the coming years.
“It seems to me that spacetime may well be a fiction in the sense that it is a useful and convenient way to talk about the things that happen in the universe, but ultimately we will not need it,” says Vedral.
