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Health & Science4h 50m ago
Physicists built a 'mini universe' using approximately 24,000 rubidium atoms cooled to a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero to study how time can emerge from changes within a system, rather than an external clock.
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University of Birmingham
Who
Professor Giovanni Barontini, University of Birmingham
What
Physicists built a 'mini universe' using approximately 24,000 rubidium atoms cooled to a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero to study how time can emerge from changes within a system, rather than an external clock.
When
Sun, 14 Jun 2026 14:07:00 GMT · 4h 50m ago
Where
University of Birmingham ·
Why
The experiment aimed to test the idea that time might not be a fundamental aspect of the universe but emerges from internal relationships and changes, especially relevant to theories like quantum gravity where time does not appear as a built-in feature.
The Frontline Impact
How this affects you
This research provides an experimental platform to test abstract concepts from quantum gravity and cosmology in a laboratory setting, offering new insights into the nature of time and how it can be defined by changes within a system rather than an external clock.
Story chain
2 events in this thread- Health & Science4h 50m agoUltracold atoms in a lab-built mini universe allow physicists to track time without a clock, using entropy inside the system.Open article
- Currently Reading4h 50m agoPhysicists built a 'mini universe' using approximately 24,000 rubidium atoms cooled to a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero to study how time can emerge from changes within a system, rather than an external clock.