Instead of the classic spacetime we know, they calculated a spacetime consisting of three time dimensions and a single space dimension.
To make the equation work, physicists turned to quantum mechanics, which describes the smallest parts of the universe.
In quantum mechanics, you work with something called superposition, which makes it possible for a particle to exist in more than one of its theoretically possible states at the same time.
Thus, a particle can move along several paths at once and in the new spacetime several times at once.
A bubble in multiple directions
To us from the outside, a superluminal particle (that is, a particle faster than light) would look like a particle expanding like a bubble in a motion in multiple directions at once, according to the researchers’ new model.
Instead, the particle would “live” through three dimensions of time simultaneously, and age differently in each of the three dimensions, while moving in only one dimension of space.
At the same time, the speed of light in a vacuum would remain constant, even for the particle moving faster than light.
The particle will never exceed the speed of light in the space dimension, but it will be able to over time. Therefore, the special theory of relativity is maintained.
But physicists doubt it’s even possible to observe this extended spacetime behavior.
However, they believe that the theory, as well as building a bridge between quantum physics and the special theory of relativity, could help understand the Higgs mechanism that gives particles mass.
