Ultracold Atoms Offer a Clue to the Emergence of Time
Researchers have used 24,000 ultracold atoms to build a miniature, isolated quantum system designed to probe one of physics’ central questions: where does time come from?
The system repeatedly expands and contracts, resembling a cyclic approximation of the Big Bang followed by a possible Big Crunch. According to the experiment, the system’s internal changes provided a basis for emergent time without requiring an outside clock.
The result does not amount to a complete explanation of time, but it offers a controlled setting for investigating how temporal behavior may arise within a quantum system. Such experiments could help physicists examine the relationship between time, system dynamics, and the evolution of the universe.