Evidence of ‘Negative Time’ Found in Quantum Physics Experiment

Christopher Nolan has something to do with this. I feel it in my bones.

Can anyone explain what is the evidence actually?

> “A negative time delay may seem paradoxical, but what it means is that if you built a ‘quantum’ clock to measure how much time atoms are spending in the excited state, the clock hand would, under certain circumstances, move backward rather than forward,” Sinclair says. In other words, the time in which the photons were absorbed by atoms is negative.

> Even though the phenomenon is astonishing, it has no impact on our understanding of time itself—but it does illustrate once again that the quantum world still has surprises in store.

So yea, no negative time, just click bait title

I’ve been waiting for anti-time since the series finale of The Next Generation.

“Researchers led by Daniela Angulo from the University of Toronto have uncovered a strange quantum phenomenon where photons appear to spend a negative amount of time passing through a cloud of chilled atoms. This suggests that photons can exit a material before they even enter it, challenging conventional understanding of time in quantum mechanics.

The study, which builds on previous work from 2017, focused on atomic excitation—when photons are absorbed by atoms, causing their electrons to jump to higher energy levels. When these excited electrons return to their ground state, they release energy as new photons, leading to observable time delays in the light’s transit through the medium.

The team found that sometimes photons passed through the atomic cloud without interaction, yet the atoms still became excited. Remarkably, when photons were absorbed, they seemed to be reemitted almost instantaneously, creating the illusion that the photons left the atoms faster than they could return to their original state.

The researchers collaborated with theorist Howard Wiseman to explain this anomaly, revealing that the timing of photon absorption and reemission is probabilistic. In some instances, this timing could even yield a “negative” duration for the photons’ interaction with the atoms.

Despite the counterintuitive nature of this finding, it does not violate the principles of relativity, as it does not imply any faster-than-light communication. The results highlight the continuing surprises of quantum physics and prompt a re-evaluation of how we understand group delays in optics. Overall, this research showcases the fascinating and often perplexing behavior of quantum particles.”

Ever been in a loooooong work meeting? Thats proof of negative movement of time

If you think people are smart, read comment sections

From the article

>Quantum physicists are familiar with wonky, seemingly nonsensical phenomena: atoms and **molecules** sometimes act as particles, sometimes as waves

I’ve never heard of molecules acting as particles and waves before.