Scientists have confirmed the existence of gravitational time dilation

Physicists from the University of California at Berkeley, using an atomic interferometer successfully confirmed the existence of gravitational time dilation - one of the consequences of the general theory of relativity, Albert Einstein, reported in Nature on Wednesday.

Einstein in the early 20 th century offered a general theory of relativity, according to which the source of gravitational effects - the deformation of space-time, which involves, in particular, the presence in it matter. Among the findings of the provisions of this theory - gravitational redshift, which is in favor of the hypothesis of an expanding universe, as well as gravitational time dilation.

On the general theory of relativity, the closer the clock to the source of attraction, the slower they go. Previously, the existence of this effect is measured in 1976 during the experiment by NASA and the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory using a pair of hydrogen maser clock. The measurement accuracy of a new experiment in Berkeley increased 10 thousand times.

Physicists used the cesium atoms that fall into the laser beam. "At a time when this happens, according to the laws of quantum mechanics, an atom of cesium is in two parallel realities: one, he remains in place, and in the other - is shifted by about a tenth of a millimeter," - says one of the authors, Holger Müller ( Holger Mueller), which quoted the press service of the University.

Scientists, using the idea of quantum mechanics for that matter - this is a particle and a wave, measured by the interference of these waves of matter, assessing the changes in their vibration and ultimately slowing down time. It turned out that equations of general relativity predict a slowing up to one hundred-million shares. According to scientists, is the most accurate test of Einstein's theory in the history of such measurements.

"This again shows us how well Einstein's theory describes the real world. The experiment shows that the gravity changes over time - is the central idea of the theory of general relativity ", - said Mueller.

According to him, the results of his experiment is not only of theoretical interest: they can be used in a satellite positioning system for precise measurement of time and detection of gravitational waves.

"If we used global positioning satellites to the best of the available hours, with an accuracy of 17 digits, we could determine the location to within a millimeter. But when the hours rise to the meter, in the 16 th sign of the distortion occurs. So to the extent that we use more and more accurate clock, we need to more clearly understand the influence of gravity, "- noted physicist.