Physicists at the University of Birmingham report an experiment designed to test whether time can arise without an external clock. The team creates a tiny “mini-universe” using 24,000 ultracold atoms held near absolute zero in a Bose-Einstein condensate. Rather than imposing a conventional measure of time, the researchers examine how system dynamics produce time-like behavior. In the setup, the evolution of the quantum system shows processes analogous to a “Big Bang” and a “Big Crunch,” representing a natural expansion and later contraction within the isolated system.
According to the reports, the study focuses on how an internal measure tied to disorder—described as an entropic clock—tracks the progression of the system’s changing state. The findings suggest that the appearance of temporal flow can be linked to changes inside the quantum system itself, rather than depending on an external reference. Overall, the experiment supports the idea that time may emerge from complex internal dynamics in certain physical conditions, though it does not claim a definitive conclusion about time in all contexts.
