Physicists find tiny flaw in time linked to quantum collapse and gravity
Updated
Updated · ScienceDaily · May 3
Physicists find tiny flaw in time linked to quantum collapse and gravity
8 articles · Updated · ScienceDaily · May 3
The Physical Review Research study, led by Nicola Bortolotti in Rome with international colleagues, analysed the Diósi-Penrose and Continuous Spontaneous Localization models.
It found spontaneous collapse processes could create minute spacetime uncertainty, imposing a fundamental limit on clock precision, though the effect is far below detection by today’s best atomic clocks.
The work offers a potentially testable route for comparing collapse theories with standard quantum mechanics and may help efforts to reconcile quantum theory’s fixed time with relativity’s flexible spacetime.
Physicists claim time itself is imperfect. What does this tiny flaw reveal about the ultimate rules of our universe?
With experiments now disproving parts of the theory, is the idea of a 'flawed' time already dead on arrival?
Quantum Collapse Models Reveal Fundamental 10⁻³⁰-Second Limit on Time Precision
Overview
In late 2025, Nicola Bortolotti and colleagues published a groundbreaking study showing that spontaneous collapse of quantum wavefunctions, as described by the Diósi-Penrose and Continuous Spontaneous Localization models, causes tiny gravitational fluctuations that make time fundamentally uncertain at the quantum level. This intrinsic time uncertainty sets a theoretical limit on clock precision, though it is far too small to affect current timekeeping technologies. These findings reveal a deep connection between quantum mechanics, gravity, and the nature of time, suggesting time is stochastic and linked to wavefunction collapse. While the original Diósi-Penrose model was experimentally falsified, modified versions remain viable, and future experiments, including space-based tests, aim to explore these profound implications further.