A group of theoretical physicists has just published a new study which suggests that reality as we know it may just be the result of quantum mechanics, which may help to explain how confoundingly odd the universe behaves at times.

As Science Alert reports, new research has explained why space-time itself is very likely to be nothing more than the effects of quantum mechanics playing itself out. Furthermore, distortions within these quantum mechanics may also help to explain seemingly bizarre things like quantum tunneling and entanglement, which still have not been satisfactorily settled and explained by physicists.

While the idea that reality is nothing more than the product of quantum mechanics may seem outlandish at first, it is not completely out of the ordinary as it is based on past hypotheses that have been studied, and this new theory may finally be able to at long last link general relativity with quantum mechanics. What this means is that the Theory of Everything that physicists have long sought may finally come to fruition.

As Paulo Castro from the University of Lisbon in Portugal explained, “If one accepts that gravitational phenomena like the formation of planetary systems, galaxies or even black holes, have the very same origin as entanglement and the tunnel effect – indeed that gravity is quantum – then a unification between quantum physics and gravity may be at reach.”

Exclusive: This Wild Paper Suggests Our Reality Is Just a Product of Quantum Mechanics https://t.co/pSgxIsHuK7 — ScienceAlert (@ScienceAlert) February 22, 2019

If you’re curious about what the universe truly consists of, it’s really rather easy. Physicists believe that our universe is a construct of space-time, which is nothing more than the three dimensions of space that surround us combined with the one dimension of time that we inhabit.

And to explain the world that we inhabit, Castro and the other theoretical physicists that have worked on this new research believe that understanding how space-time came into being may be the key to understanding reality.

With general relativity, space-time is supposed to pre-exist everything else in what Castro calls a “tridimensional foldable substance,” with everything that happens in the universe also happening inside this substance.

However, according to Castro, this new study on quantum mechanics suggests that space-time may not have pre-existed after all.

“In our proposal, space-time does not pre-exist, it is the result of a physical process by which the subquantum medium goes from a chaotic state to a more organized one.”

The medium that is discussed by Castro is one which is “a kind of primordial foam from where space-time itself emerges.” In other words, while everything may be chaotic in the early stages, once things have calmed down and order occurs, structures may then begin to form.

As Castro further noted, “In fact, in our theory, these organized states correspond to subquantum waves, imposing how space and time behaves, giving rise to extreme cases, like the ones in entanglement and the tunnel effect.”

And because the behaviors of space-time really arise from gravity, gravity, in turn, may also be quantum.

While it is important to remember that the idea that reality is nothing more than the product of quantum mechanics has not been tested as of yet, the theoretical physicists involved with this groundbreaking new research are currently looking for different ways to test their theory.

The new study that has concluded that our reality really stems from quantum mechanics has been published in The Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics.