The long-standing theory of general relativity depicts time as a fluid entity, its flow dependent on acceleration and gravitational influences. Contrastingly, quantum mechanics portrays time as flowing at a fixed pace, akin to a movie reel's steady frames, implying a universal nature of time [3].
These seemingly contradictory perspectives necessitate a logical explanation, a challenge that has stumped theoretical physicists for decades. Some have proposed that the answer may lie in the quantization of time as spacetime, as indicated by quantum gravity theories. This conjecture depicts spacetime not as a continuum, but as smaller units corresponding to the Planck length (approximately 1.62×10^-35 meters) - a scale too minuscule for detection [3].
This theory further posits that these discrete time packets should vanish, implying a universal clock operating on minuscule time units. Such a clock would maintain uniformity across the universe and in interaction with matter. This then raises the question of the speed of this universal clock [3].
In their latest research, the physicists have proposed a theory outlining the maximum limit of such a time increment. They've postulated that this universal clock is a quantum oscillator, oscillating regularly between two states [2][3].
To calculate its speed, they proposed linking this oscillator with a slower one, similar to an atomic oscillator. In their model, the two oscillators always maintain equal net energy. Over time, their oscillations should diverge [2][3].
The physicists utilized this oscillator divergence to calculate the universal clock's maximum scanning frequency. They also proposed that even though measuring such a minuscule scanning frequency is challenging, it should be possible to validate their theory by measuring the oscillator divergence [2][3].
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