Explore the latest developments concerning Schrödinger’s clock: Time.
Schrödinger’s clock: Time could tick faster and slower at the same time
Few concepts in physics are as familiar, or as puzzling, as time itself. Einstein's theory of relativity showed that time is not fixed or universal. Instead, it changes depending on speed and gravity. When scientists combine relativity with quantum mechanics, however, the picture becomes even stranger. Quantum theory suggests that time itself could exist in a superposition, meaning it may flow both faster and slower simultaneously.
A newly published study suggests researchers may soon be able to test this bizarre idea in the lab. The paper, titled "Quantum signatures of proper time in optical ion clocks," appeared April 20, 2026 in Physical Review Letters. The research was led by Assistant Professor Igor Pikovski of Stevens Institute of Technology, working with experimental teams led by Christian Sanner at Colorado State University and Dietrich Leibfried at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
The most accurate atomic clocks in operation now lose less than one second every 30 billion years — and the reason this matters isn't precision for its own sake, it's that gravity itself slows time slightly, and these clocks are now sensitive enough to measure the
There is a particular fact about the most precise atomic clocks currently in operation that the wider cultural register has, on the available evidence, not yet adequately absorbed.
There is a particular fact about the most precise atomic clocks currently in operation that the wider cultural register has, on the available evidence, not yet adequately absorbed. The fact is that these clocks are now sensitive enough that they can directly measure the difference in the rate at which time passes between two positions in the same room that are separated by, in the most recent demonstrations, approximately one millimeter of vertical distance.
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"Different Flows of Time All Exist at the Same Moment": Scientists Claim Trapped-Ion Atomic Clocks Can Observe “Quantum Superposition of Time”
An international team of researchers has demonstrated a theoretical framework showing that state-of-the-art trapped-ion atomic clocks could be tuned to a sensitivity precise enough to measure the quantum superposition of time, in which different flows of time exist simultaneously at the quantum level.
The researchers behind the framework said the next step will be to prove their concept experimentally. If successful, they suggest that trapped-ion atomic clocks could potentially help unravel physics’ other fundamental question: the elusive nature of gravity.
In the macro world, time moves in one direction. Although famed 20th-century scientist Albert Einstein showed that gravity and speed can alter the rate at which time flows, his theory of relativity conceded that time at the macro scale inexorably flows in a forward direction.
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