University of Birmingham builds tiny 'universe' of 24,000 rubidium atoms
Technology
Scientists at the University of Birmingham just pulled off something wild: they made a tiny "universe" in their lab using 24,000 super-cold rubidium atoms.
Instead of using regular clocks, they watched how these atoms moved between two laser-separated regions to see how time passes.
Experiment suggests time emerges from interactions
Turns out, the way these atoms shifted acted like an internal clock: when things changed, time moved forward; when everything stayed still, it was like time paused.
This experiment backs up the idea that time might come from interactions inside quantum systems, not from some outside force.
The team hopes this could help us understand tricky stuff like black holes and how time itself really works.