An Italian physicist working at Vanderbilt University solves the paradox of time travel

Jan 15, 2025 558

BY: We the Italians Editorial Staff

A groundbreaking scientific discovery by Italian physicist Lorenzo Gavassino has resolved a long-standing paradox in the realm of time travel. Gavassino, a researcher at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, has formulated a theory that provides a consistent framework for understanding the possibility of time travel without violating the principles of causality.

Time travel, often a subject of science fiction, has raised complex questions in the field of theoretical physics. The so-called “grandfather paradox” is one of the most famous dilemmas in this domain.

It suggests that if a time traveler were to go back in time and alter past events — such as preventing their own grandfather from meeting their grandmother — it would create a contradiction: the time traveler would never have been born, yet they would still exist to travel back in time. This presents a fundamental problem for theories that allow for time travel.

Gavassino’s new theory resolves this paradox by introducing a quantum approach. His hypothesis suggests that when an event in the past is altered, the changes are not necessarily absolute but occur in a branching reality, creating a parallel timeline. This means that the past would not be directly modified, but rather a new timeline would emerge, allowing the original timeline to remain intact.

Gavassino’s model is grounded in the concept of quantum mechanics, which allows for the existence of multiple realities existing simultaneously. His theory extends the notion of “quantum superposition” to the macroscopic level, where different outcomes of a single event coexist in separate realities. By applying this concept to time travel, Gavassino provides a solution to the paradox: changes in the past would result in the creation of an alternative timeline, not a contradiction in the original one.

This discovery has significant implications for the scientific community. While time travel remains a hypothetical concept, Gavassino’s work offers new perspectives on the fundamental nature of time and reality. His theory could also contribute to a deeper understanding of quantum mechanics and its potential applications in fields such as quantum computing and cosmology.

Gavassino’s work is still in its early stages, and further research is needed to test the model’s predictions. However, his innovative approach to time travel could pave the way for future breakthroughs in theoretical physics, offering exciting new directions for the study of time and the universe.

You may be interested