It has been said that our universe works on three physical dimensions. In 1905, Albert Einstein had developed the theory of relativity that informed about the fourth dimension based on time, called the dimension of time. The latest study has given some deeper insight into a new spatial dimension. Two teams of scientists from Switzerland, USA, Germany, Italy, and Israel have discovered the fourth dimension.

The lead author Oded Zilberberg has given the theoretical concept for this experiment which shows the existence of the new fourth dimension where one can move backwards or forward in time. Mikael Rechtsman from Penn State University and a researcher with the US-based team informed that the 4D spatial systems which can’t be felt physically but they managed to get a glimpse of new dimension

The study was based on the results of two quantum hall experiments. For readers those who don’t know, quantum Hall effect occurs when a high magnetic field is applied in the perpendicular direction to the electron whose movements are restricted in 2D at a very low temperature. In such a situation, the voltage forbids continuous increments rather it makes discrete jumps. In such system, electrons move in predetermined paths and scientists can make the electrons travel along the edges of the material by applying particular magnetic field. This is a quantum Hall effect which was discovered nearly 20 years ago and scientists believe that similar thing will happen to a particle in fourth-dimension.

In layman’s language, 3D objects cast shadows in 2D, therefore, a 4D object should also cast a shadow in 3D. Although 4D is not accessible at the moment, but scientists can trace its shadow in 3D to prove its existence and recent experiments were based on the same theory.

For the study, the scientists placed two specially designed 2D set up, and it gave them a clue about the new fourth spatial dimension. This is an advanced calculation process which in 2016 managed to corner the Nobel Prize for Physics. Researchers used topological pumps which enabled them to change the quantum stated in a predetermined way and scientists were to able convert a 2D system into 4 D system.

In another experiment, physicists used a two-dimensional array of waveguides into a fifteen-centimetre-long glass block using laser beams. The European team then supercooled the atoms and placed them in a 2D lattice which was created using lasers. With the help of additional lasers, the team used a quantum charged pump to stimulate the atoms and to move them. The team then detected a slight variation in the movement of the atoms which shows how a 4D quantum Hall Effect will ripple out.

By measuring the movements of atoms in the 2D lattice, Immanuel Bloch and his team at the Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optic in Munich found that those atoms worked as the topology of the quantum Hall effect in four dimensions. However, Zilberberg informed that these new experiments can’t be used in real life for now. But it has given significant progress to Physics.

Both the studies have come up with complementary outcomes where the study by U.S. team showed how effects of 4D appear on edges of a special system while other study showed how the fourth dimension might occur in the physical world. The studies were simulations of 4D effects instead of actual four dimensional system.

The experiments are still in its nascent stages and the team is now working to find out how it works. However, the study has given a direction to scientists which will further enable them in future to make the fourth dimension a reality. The fourth dimension will make time travel possible which only exists in theory as of now.

The study appeared in the journal Nature.