The Large Hadron Collider has been the center for much controversy since it was first proposed. Throughout the long building process, which included scientists and engineers from throughout the world, a doomsday theory haunted the machine alongside a strange string of bad luck. But now with the LHC soon to become the first expected to actually prove the existence of the Higgs Boson, researchers are beginning to suggest an alternate use for the device.
Imagine the devastation of a world ending scenario. As the massive catastrophe raged throughout the world, scientists would check their math and attempt to look at where things had gone so wrong. And if somehow the Large Hadron Collider were to be fitted by that point with the ability to send a human being back in time, could they warn the world of its impending doom? Or would such an action create an ever lasting time paradox that resulted in us reliving the end of the world over and over again?
Tom Weiler and Chui Man Ho have proposed a theory that suggests the LHC could be the first device ever built that actually allowed matter to travel backwards in time. While time travel has been accepted as a possibility by some areas of science, particularly in quantum physics – it is generally thought to be impossible due to the vast paradoxes that may arise as a result of its use. But the theory proposed by these two scientists suggests not only that time travel would be possible, but it could be achieved in a way that does not actually allow for a time paradox.
The theory, at the moment, suggests that particles of matter could be sent backwards in time known as “singlets.” These singlets would be far smaller than a human being – and only be able to travel through the LHC itself. And while sending a human being back in time may be out of the question at the moment, further research may allow for more to be sent back. And if we can send back matter, a code could in theory be developed that allows for communication from the future to take place.
Of course the singlet theory also means there might be some opportunities for a paradox not yet recognized by Ho and Weiler. If the particles were somehow attached to a communication device, the message sent back could result in the machine not being used in the first place. But then where would the message have come from?
Mankind has often speculated on theories about time travel, making it one of those dreams we have always aspired toward much like off-world colonization. And still others have suggested at some point we do achieve time travel and the evidence of this is in the alien abductions we so often hear of from witnesses who seem to have seen something genuine. So will the LHC finally allow us a process to make this reverse flow of time possible? Only time will tell.