Using Math to Investigate Possibility of Time Travel

Gabriella Pedro
Mr. Gray
Physics .1

Using Math to Investigate Possibility of Time Travel

Ben Tippet, a mathematics and physics instructor has recently published a study about the feasibility of time travel. After some serious number crunching Tippett has come to the conclusion that it is indeed possible to make a model for a viable time machine. 

About Ben Tippet:

Tippet is both a mathematics and physics instructor that works at UBC's Okanagan campus. Tippet is an expert in Einstein's theories of general relativity. When not teaching Tippett spends his time researching black holes and science fiction. Tippets vast knowledge of math and physics has helped him created the perfect formula that describes a method for time travel. The once impossible idea of time travel is becoming a reality with Tippet's new formula. 

"People think of time travel as something as fiction," says Tippett. "And we tend to think it's not possible because we don't actually do it. But, mathematically, it is possible."

Time Travel: 

Time Travel has been the talk for centuries and ever since HG Wells published his book Time Machine in 1885, scientist have worked incredibly hard to solve or disprove the theory of time travel. This talk of time travel has been a main focus of conversation dating back to Albert Einstein in 1915. Einstein announced his theory of general relativity stating that "gravitational fields are caused by distortion in the fabric of space and time." This fact later lead the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (an international physics institute) to discover that the detection of gravitational waves generated by colliding black holes billions of lightyears away, this statement further conformed Einstien's theory. 

Using Einstein's theory, Tippett says that the curvature of space-time accounts for the curved orbits of the planets. This is due to the fact the divison of space is into four dimensions. These four dimensions when imagined simultaneously, where different directions are connected, as a space-time continuum. 

"The time direction of the space-time surface also shows curvature. There is evidence showing the closer to a black hole we get, time moves slower," says Tippett. "My model of a time machine uses the curved space-time -- to bend time into a circle for the passengers, not in a straight line. That circle takes us back in time."

"HG Wells popularized the term 'time machine' and he left people with the thought that an explorer would need a 'machine or special box' to actually accomplish time travel," Tippett says. "While is it mathematically feasible, it is not yet possible to build a space-time machine because we need materials--which we call exotic matter--to bend space-time in these impossible ways, but they have yet to be discovered."

TARDIS also known as Tippett's creation of the mathematical model of Traversable Acasual Retrograde Domain in Space-time. This model is described "as a bubble of space-time geometry which carries its contents backward and forwards through space and time as it tours a large circular path." When the bubble moves through space-time at speeds greater than the speed of light at times, thus allowing it to move backwards in time. 

"Studying space-time is both fascinating and problematic. And it's also a fun way to use math and physics," says Tippett. "Experts in my field have been exploring the possibility of mathematical time machines since 1949. And my research presents a new method for doing it."