Scientists observe photons spending negative time in rubidium cloud
Scientists have pulled off a mind-bending experiment: they watched photons (tiny light particles) pass through a cloud of rubidium atoms and appearing to spend a negative amount of time inside it.
This "negative time" twist flips our usual idea of how time works, but it's totally in line with quantum physics.
The study was published in Physical Review Letters.
Weak measurements show photons left early
Researchers used special weak measurement techniques to track millions of photon interactions without messing up the results.
Turns out, rubidium atoms are perfect for this because they absorb and re-emit photons.
Instead of taking the expected amount of time to cross the atom cloud, some photons left early, giving scientists real evidence that negative "dwell time" isn't just a weird math trick, but an actual quantum effect.