Weird conphysics idea: Multiple time dimensions

[Micamo]

Basically, it goes like this: There are two (or more) sets of physics, and a general "time distortion law" which goes over all of these. Every quantized pocket of space is assigned a ratio by the time distortion law which determines how quickly things inside the pocket move along each time dimension. Time is quantized as well. Each physics' rules are applied multiple times; the ratio determines how many. If the ratio is, say, 2:1, then it moves twice as fast along the first time dimension as it does the second. You could thus say the first set of physics "dominates" the second set in this region, though not by much. One of the sets could possibly go to zero or even go negative if the other(s) speed up to compensate.

The first application of this type of conphysics that I can see is for the first set to be mostly identical to our world, and the second set to remain at 0 mostly everywhere. This could, in effect, allow us to "time travel" by manipulating the ratios of pockets of space, with the second set taking over as to stabilize things (such that the machines which control the distortion to remain operational through the physics-reversal).

I'm babbling, aren't I? Sleep deprivation... *zzz*

[xijlwya]

Erm, OK, lets face it :D

First, let me sum up what you have as preconditions:

• multiple set of physics (whatever that may be :D, I assume different sets of physical laws)
• a time distrotion law connecting these sets
• now, time passes at different ratios in each set of physics (although you introduced multiple time dimensions... which is crazy basically :D)
• that means, that everything goes faster or slower (even in negative time directions) in each set of physics
• faster moving sets may dominate slower ones by linear interference? That means, the higher the ratio, the more dominant one set is
  
  It's rather confusing, but that lies in the matter of things.
  I could imagine a multidimensional time frame. Lets say (for easier imagination) there are three linear independent time dimensions (exactly like your space). Our world goes through the three on a curved line. We are not able to notice that movement, for us, it seems to be strictly linear. The law that describes this movement may be your time distortion law. So basically time can go in spirals and loops, or could even stand still somehow. Although I don't know what that would mean. Is that somehow near to the thing you imagined?

[Micamo]

Erm, OK, lets face it :D

First, let me sum up what you have as preconditions:

• multiple set of physics (whatever that may be :D, I assume different sets of physical laws)
• a time distrotion law connecting these sets
• now, time passes at different ratios in each set of physics (although you introduced multiple time dimensions... which is crazy basically :D)
• that means, that everything goes faster or slower (even in negative time directions) in each set of physics
• faster moving sets may dominate slower ones by linear interference? That means, the higher the ratio, the more dominant one set is
  
  It's rather confusing, but that lies in the matter of things.
  I could imagine a multidimensional time frame. Lets say (for easier imagination) there are three linear independent time dimensions (exactly like your space). Our world goes through the three on a curved line. We are not able to notice that movement, for us, it seems to be strictly linear. The law that describes this movement may be your time distortion law. So basically time can go in spirals and loops, or could even stand still somehow. Although I don't know what that would mean. Is that somehow near to the thing you imagined?

Yeah, though I imagined the operation to be transformation based. The only way I can imagine a multi-dimensional timeline within a transformation paradigim (with the starting state being "before" and the result being "after") is to have multiple sets of transformations which run in parallel, both independent of each other. Then again I'm no physicist, and not even that good with math. Perhaps you physics-folks have come up with a way of making physical sense of multi-dimensional time with a single transformation set.

And like I said, the first advantage I saw to this paradigim is it allows for clean time travel; A chain of causality exists in two (or more) dimensions, so it can cross itself in one so long as it doesn't cross itself in all of them. Unless I'm just on crack, that is.

[clockworkbanana]

I've thought of something like this. However, I assumed a force like gravity in time. Humans, as one-time-dimensional (1tD) beings, can only move "down" or else must use large amounts of energy to go "up". We're all at the same dot of a platform that keeps falling and there is no room for other platforms. So the whole universe as we know would have to go "up" for anyone in 1tD to time travel.

People who are two-time-dimensional (2tD) would have more freedom to time travel by making "time ramps", and someone in three time dimensions (3tD) would have even more freedom. But I would think they'd still have personal time lines, so if someone traveled perpendicular to us in time, and then came back to our time line, no time would have passed to us, but the "time traveler" would have aged.

[zelos]

Youre not the first on this

Physicists are thinking on this but imaginary time instead to avoid the problem of singularity at the moment of big bang.

Chrono trigger fans have a similar concept

and physicists have though established mostly that any laws like our own cannot work in 2 time axises, fun idea though

[intermundi]

*time-travel-induced headache*
I would imagine that those alternate time-lines would be very similar to parallel worlds.

[Pe King]

A long series of lasers put on perpendicular intersections would be able to induce a wormhole to another time.

[Jarhead]

I've never found the time to delve deeper into special relativity, but I think that laws on gravitational distortion of space-time continuum may be something you want to look at, if you are going to develop this idea.