Scientists witness 'time dilation' in early universe, claims new research

A new study has claimed that time passed only about a fifth as quickly as it does todaydue to dilation in the early universe. The scientists arrived at the conclusion after observing aferocious class of black holes called quasars.

The study published inthe journal Nature Astronomy monitored a sample of 190 quasars for over two decades in multiple wavebands. The observations stretch back to about 12.3 billion years ago when the universe was roughly a tenth of its present age.

The scientists compared the brightness of these 190 quasars, dating to about 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang event to that ofquasars existing today. In doing so, they found that certain fluctuationsthat occur in a particular amount of time today did so five times more slowly in the most ancient quasars.

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“We see things changing about five times slower than today.It’s like watching a movie with the speed turned down," saidGeraint Lewis, lead author of the study at the Univesity of Sydney.

"What is observed over time is the quasar brightness. This fluctuates up and down, the result of lots of complicated physics in the disk of matter spinning around a black hole at almost light speed. This change in brightness is not simply a bright, fade, bright, fade. It looks more like the stock market, with small-scale jitters on longer-term changes, with some sharp fluctuations," he added.

What are quasars?

Quasars are supermassive black holes, often situated at the heart of a galaxy, millions to billions of times more massive than our Sun. Quasars are super hungry as they devour any matter in the vicinity by using their immense gravitational pull. They also emit tremendous amounts of radiation, including jets of high-energy particles,while a glowing disk of matter spins around them.

Renowned physicistAlbert Einstein, in his general theory of relativity, posited that time and space are intertwined and thatthe universe has been expanding outward in all directions since the Big Bang. He said astronomers should see ancient cosmic events happen more slowly than modern ones. This effect is known as time dilation and the results published now, further clear his picture of an ever-expanding universe.

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It's not to say that the time movedin slow motion back then. If you were to be transported back to that time, a second would still feel like a second to you. However, from the perspective of a person today, a second back then would unfold in five seconds now.

Christopher Nolan's highly-acclaimed movie Interstellar also touched upon the topic of time dilation. For the crew that went near the 'Gargantuan' black hole, time moved incredibly slowly while for those on Earth, it moved as it was supposed to. So while the astronauts near the black hole had only spent a few hours and aged a few hours, those on Earth had experienced an entire lifetime.

(With inputs from agencies)

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