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Posted on 09/28/2001 7:45:28 AM PDT by Cagey

STORRS, Conn. -- A University of Connecticut theoretical physics professor is working on the key to traveling back in time. According to Ronald Mallett, the solution is simpler than traveling through a rotating black hole or an unstable wormhole.

"I have been focused on creating a time machine ever since I was 10 years old, when my father died from a heart attack at the age of 33," Mallett said. "Ever since then, it has been my goal to construct a time machine to go back and warn my father of what is about to happen to him."

Mallett's theory uses laser light that is forced to circulate in one continuous loop by using mirrors or fiber optics. In the center a single spinning particle would be placed, such as a neutron. The particle would be dragged around in empty space and moving it away from the center could send it into the past.

According to Mallett, the device could create an effect that would be similar to stirring cream into a cup of coffee. The disturbance created in the coffee by stirring is similar to the effects created by Mallett's laser device.

"The theory is that when the machine is turned on and runs for a day, a person can step into the machine and return to the day before," Mallett said. "Hence, a person can travel back from the future to any time in the past, but not past before the time machine was turned on."

"[Mallett's theory] is perfectly consistent [with Einstein's Theory of General Relativity], but if someone will be able to do it experimentally is another thing. It could be too hard to do. It could only work in physics or chemistry labs, but not on a life-size level, which is often the case," David Markowitz, a physics professor, said.

"The bottom line is that Mallett has found an exact solution to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. He and others are trying to understand the consequences of his theory and I am trying to understand it myself," Winthrop Smith, a physics professor, said.

"It is an exciting theoretical development, but I am skeptical about any practical developments in the short run, but this does not mean that we should not work on it," Smith said.

Smith said it could be practical if someone comes up with a clever idea to modify the current design to make it cheaper to develop for experimentation.

According to William Stwalley, the head of the physics department, members of the Ultracold research group have been able to slow light down to the speed of a bike, which could make development of a Mallett device more practical than before.

"No experiments are definitely planned for this year, but I would not be surprised that there would be one by the end of the year," Stwalley said.

Under the currently defined rules of the universe, Mallett cannot travel back in time to save his father. He will continue to search for a way to travel through time, and the physics staff and students at UConn will be controlling the research for this new theory.

"I find all this new work quite exciting," Mallet said. "Being able to alter the past is a powerful tool and there are severe moral implications related to changing the past. I wonder if the people of the future will use time travel to alter their past, our present."

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