Space Emerges from Time? Groundbreaking Theory Upends Einstein

Three intertwined time directions may underpin everything, turning space into mere “paint on the canvas” and pushing physics toward a long-sought theory of everything. Credit: Shutterstock

A bold new framework suggests time isn’t a lone linear thread but a three-dimensional canvas from which space itself emerges.

By weaving these extra time axes into his equations, physicist Gunther Kletetschka recreates known particle masses, keeps cause before effect, and hints at a route to unify quantum mechanics with gravity. If borne out by experiments, 3D time could rewrite our deepest story of reality.

Time as 3D Canvas

Imagine a universe where time itself is the true stage for reality. A new theory from Gunther Kletetschka at the University of Alaska Fairbanks suggests that every physical event unfolds within time alone, and that time actually has three independent directions. Space emerges as a secondary manifestation.

“These three time dimensions are the primary fabric of everything, like the canvas of a painting,” said associate research professor Gunther Kletetschka at the UAF Geophysical Institute. “Space still exists with its three dimensions, but it’s more like the paint on the canvas rather than the canvas itself.”

Challenging Classic Spacetime

That idea stands in sharp contrast to the century-old notion of spacetime, which treats one dimension of time and three of space as a single entity. Kletetschka’s mathematics combines the three time axes with the familiar spatial ones to create six total dimensions. He believes this framework could edge scientists closer to a single, unifying explanation of the universe.

Grasping extra directions of time is tricky, and many theorists have proposed versions of the concept. Kletetschka’s advance lies in matching his model to known particle masses and other measurable properties, turning an intriguing idea into a testable hypothesis.

Testable 3D Time Framework

Kletetschka’s work, published recently in Reports in Advances of Physical Science, adds to a long-running body of research by theoretical physicists on a subject outside of mainstream physics.

He writes that his mathematical framework for three-dimensional time improves on others’ proposals by making testable reproductions of known particle masses and other physical properties.

“Earlier 3D time proposals were primarily mathematical constructs without these concrete experimental connections,” he said. “My work transforms the concept from an interesting mathematical possibility into a physically testable theory with multiple independent verification channels.”

The theory could be used to predict currently unknown particle properties and aid in pursuing the origin of mass — and, ultimately, helping solve one of the biggest questions in physics.

How 3D Time Works

Three-dimensional time is a theory in which time, like space, has multiple independent directions — typically imagined as three axes of time motion, similar in concept to the spatial X, Y and Z axes.

Imagine you are walking down a straight path, moving forward and therefore experiencing time as we know it. Now imagine another path that crosses the first one, going sideways.

If you could step onto that sideways path and remain in the same moment of “regular time,” you might find that things could be slightly different — perhaps a different version of the same day. Moving along this perpendicular second path could let you explore different outcomes of that day without going backward or forward in time as we know it.

Solving Causality & Energy Unfolding

The existence of those different outcomes is the second dimension of time. The means to transition from one outcome to another is the third dimension.

Kletetschka said his theory overcomes some of the problems with earlier three-dimensional time theories that are based on traditional physics.

Those earlier theories, for example, describe multiple time dimensions in which cause-and-effect relationships are potentially ambiguous. Kletetschka’s theory ensures that causes still precede effects, even with multiple time dimensions, just in a more complex mathematical structure.

In three-dimensional time, the second and third dimensions are thought by some researchers, notably theoretical physicist Itzhak Bars of the University of Southern California, to become apparent, or unfold, at levels of extreme energy such as during the early universe or in high-energy particle interactions.

Toward a Theory of Everything

The pursuit of three-dimensional time theory is believed by Bars and other theoretical physicists to be an avenue for helping answer some big physics questions that have stumped scientists.

Kletetschka’s approach might even help resolve the grandest of all unresolved physics challenges: unifying quantum mechanics — the behavior of particles at the smallest scales — and gravity into a single quantum theory of gravity.

A quantum theory of gravity could lead to, or become, a grand theory of the universe — the so-called “theory of everything.” The elusive unifying theory would unite the four fundamental forces of nature — electromagnetism, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, and gravity.

Bridging Mass & Gravity Puzzles

The standard model of particle physics unites the first three. Gravity is explained through Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

The two are incompatible, so physicists have been searching for that “theory of everything” to unite them. Finding the origin of particle masses is central in that pursuit.

Kletetschka believes his theory of three-dimensional time can help. His framework accurately reproduces the known masses of particles such as electrons, muons, and quarks and also explains why these particles have these masses.

“The path to unification might require fundamentally reconsidering the nature of physical reality itself,” he said. “This theory demonstrates how viewing time as three-dimensional can naturally resolve multiple physics puzzles through a single coherent mathematical framework.”

Reference: “Three-Dimensional Time: A Mathematical Framework for Fundamental Physics” by Gunther Kletetschka, 21 April 2025, Reports in Advances of Physical Sciences.
DOI: 10.1142/S2424942425500045

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