One of the most repeated arguments in the history of science fiction cinema is the ability to travel through time. From the mythical Back to the Future, with its multiple cinematic sequels to one of the latest examples, Looper, which has just been released on DVD and Blu Ray, through Terminator or Trapped in Time. Is there really a scientific basis for this type of travel?
In most cases, to avoid an apocalyptic future, some character from the future returns to the present to change, at an exact point on the timeline, the course of events and thus save the future. It is the plot of two of the great films of science fiction cinema: Terminator and 12 monkeys. In fact, in 2008, Terminator was awarded by the Library of Congress of the United States to be preserved in the US National Film Registry, being considered “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant.” In Looper’s case, the plot is about a series of hit men who travel through time killing left and right. While the mythical Back to the Future introduces us to the scientist Doc who created a car that allows him to travel to the past and the future. Such was the impact of this latest film that in 2008, 20 years after its release, the American Film Institute classified it as the 10th best science fiction film of all time.
What is the scientific basis for all these sci-fi movies based on time travel? Is it physically possible to travel to the past? If in the future we can travel to the past, how can it be that we have not “run into” with a traveler from the future?
One of the most hackneyed arguments in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the possibility (or not) of getting a particle to move on the timeline. In fact, one of the collider’s main goals is to find the elusive Higgs boson, the particle that could explain why protons, neutrons and electrons have mass and confirm some of the most entrenched physical theories in science. In fact, last week the discovery of the so-called “God particle” announced in 2012 was confirmed.
Some scientists have predicted that a second particle, called the Higgs singlet, will be created at the same time. According to Tom Weiler and Chui Ho Man’s theory, these singlets must have the ability to jump into an extra fifth dimension, in which they could move forward or backward in time and reappear in the past or future. .
According to the researcher himself, “one of the attractive aspects of this approach to time travel is that it avoids all the great paradoxes.” But then, would it be possible to transport a person to the past? As Tom Weiler, from the University of Vanderbilt, ” because travel time is limited to these special particles, it is not possible for a man to travel back in time to murder his parents before he is born himself, for example. However, if scientists could control the production of Higgs singlets, they might be able to send messages to the past or the future, “he adds, further explaining that” our theory is a very remote possibility, but it does not violate any laws of physics. “.
We discussed the possibilities of time travel with writer Brian Clegg, author of the book ” How to Build a Time Machine ,” on the occasion of the recent release of Looper, one of the latest science fiction creations based on travel in the world. weather.
