This paper suggests that what we call “time” is actually made up of two different things. The first is a kind of underlying ordering — like a sequence of possibilities unfolding. The second is what we actually experience: the accumulation of real, irreversible events. Every time something definite happens — a particle is detected, a memory is formed, energy is dissipated — that’s a tiny step in the creation of time.
In this picture, time doesn’t flow on its own. It builds up from physical processes. And crucially, those processes depend on things like temperature and environment. That leads to a striking prediction: under certain conditions, especially at extremely low temperatures, the relationship between how systems evolve and how time is experienced should shift in a measurable way. In simple terms, the “rate at which reality becomes definite” changes.
This isn’t just philosophical. The paper shows that if time really works this way, then experiments with quantum systems — like superconducting qubits — should behave differently than standard theory predicts. At very low temperatures, the effect becomes large enough to measure. That means this idea about time can actually be tested.
Perhaps the most exciting part is that this approach doesn’t throw away existing physics. It fits neatly alongside quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of gravity. Those theories describe how time behaves. This work suggests a possible reason why it behaves that way: because time is tied to the formation of irreversible facts in the universe.
If that’s right, then time isn’t a backdrop. It’s a product — built moment by moment, one irreversible event at a time.