Time dilation is the difference in elapsed time as measured by two clocks, either
because of a relative velocity between them, or a difference in gravitational
potential between their locations. When unspecified, "time dilation" usually refers
to the effect due to velocity.
After compensating for varying signal delays resulting from the changing distance
between an observer and a moving clock, the observer will measure the moving clock
as ticking more slowly than a clock at rest in the observer's own reference frame.
There is a difference between observed and measured relativistic time dilation -
the observer does not visually perceive time dilation in the same way that they
measure it. In addition, a clock that is close to a massive body will record less
elapsed time than a clock situated farther from the same massive body.
These predictions of the theory of relativity have been repeatedly confirmed by
experiment, and they are of practical concern, for instance in the operation of
satellite navigation systems such as GPS and Galileo. Joseph Larmor wrote that, at
least for those orbiting a nucleus, individual electrons describe corresponding
parts of their orbits in times shorter for the system in the ratio: \sqrt is the
Newtonian potential; hence -U equals half the square of the escape speed.
The above equation is exact under the assumptions of the Schwarzschild solution. It
reduces to velocity time dilation equation in the presence of motion and absence of
gravity, i.e. \beta_e 0. It reduces to gravitational time dilation equation in the
absence of motion and presence of gravity, i.e. \beta 0 \beta_\shortparallel.
Experimental testing
Hafele and Keating, in 1971, flew caesium atomic clocks east and west around the
Earth in commercial airliners, to compare the elapsed time against that of a clock
that remained at the U.S. Naval Observatory. Two opposite effects came into play.
The clocks were expected to age more quickly than the reference clock since they
were in a higher gravitational potential for most of the trip. But also,
contrastingly, the moving clocks were expected to age more slowly because of the
speed of their travel. From the actual flight paths of each trip, the theory
predicted that the flying clocks, compared with reference clocks at the U.S. Naval
Observatory, should have lost 40±23 nanoseconds during the eastward trip and should
have gained 275±21 nanoseconds during the westward trip. Relative to the atomic
time scale of the U.S. Naval Observatory, the flying clocks lost 59±10 nanoseconds
during the eastward trip and gained 273±7 nanoseconds during the westward trip. In
2005, the National Physical Laboratory in the United Kingdom reported their limited
replication of this experiment. The NPL experiment differed from the original in
that the caesium clocks were sent on a shorter trip, but the clocks were more
accurate. The reported results are within 4% of the predictions of relativity,
within the uncertainty of the measurements.
The Global Positioning System can be considered a continuously operating experiment
in both special and general relativity. The in-orbit clocks are corrected for both
special and general relativistic time dilation effects as described above, so that
they run at the same rate as clocks on the surface of the Earth.
In popular culture
Velocity and gravitational time dilation have been the subject of science fiction
works in a variety of media. Some examples in film are the movies Interstellar and
Planet of the Apes. In Interstellar, a key plot point involves a planet, which is
close to a rotating black hole and on the surface of which one hour is equivalent
to seven years on Earth due to time dilation. Physicist Kip Thorne collaborated in
making the film and explained its scientific concepts in the book The Science of
Interstellar.
Time dilation was used in the Doctor Who episodes "World Enough and Time" and "The
Doctor Falls", which take place on a spaceship in the vicinity of a black hole. Due
to the immense gravitational pull of the black hole and the ship's length, time
moves faster at one end than the other. When The Doctor's companion, Bill, gets
taken away to the other end of the ship, she waits years for him to rescue her; in
his time, only minutes pass. Furthermore, the dilation allows the Cybermen to
evolve at a "faster" rate than previously seen in the show.
Tau Zero, a novel by Poul Anderson, is an early example of the concept in science
fiction literature. In the novel, a spacecraft uses a Bussard ramjet to accelerate
to high enough speeds that the crew spends five years on board, but thirty-three
years pass on the Earth before they arrive at their destination. The velocity time
dilation is explained by Anderson in terms of the tau factor which decreases closer
and closer to zero as the ship approaches the speed of light—hence the title of the
novel. Due to an accident, the crew is unable to stop accelerating the spacecraft,
causing such extreme time dilation that the crew experiences the Big Crunch at the
end of the universe. Other examples in literature, such as Rocannon's World,
Hyperion and The Forever War, similarly make use of relativistic time dilation as a
scientifically plausible literary device to have certain characters age slower than
the rest of the universe.