Physicists just found a tiny glitch in time itself

Unconventional quantum theories may imply that time itself has a tiny fundamental uncertainty, placing an ultimate limit on how precisely any clock could measure it. The effect is far beyond current detection, but it could reveal a hidden connection between quantum mechanics, gravity, and spacetime. Physicists just found a tiny glitch in time itself.

Physicists just found a tiny glitch in time itself Science News from research organizations Physicists just found a tiny glitch in time itself Quantum physics may place a fundamental limit on clock precision, hinting that time itself is not perfectly precise. In the quantum world, particles can exist in a superposition of states, meaning they can occupy multiple possible positions or configurations at the same time. Physicists describe these possibilities mathematically using a wavefunction.

That picture is very different from ordinary life, where an object appears to be in one place and one state at a time. To bridge that gap, standard quantum mechanics says that when a quantum system is measured or observed, its wavefunction collapses into a single definite outcome. Now, with support from the Foundational Questions Institute, FQxI, an international team of physicists has explored a more radical possibility.

Their work suggests that certain alternatives to standard quantum mechanics, known as quantum collapse models, could have surprising consequences for the nature of time itself and for the ultimate precision of clocks.