Realistic clocks for a Universe without time

DOI10.1007/S10701-017-0128-XzbMATH Open1387.83120arXiv1706.02531OpenAlexW3098889403MaRDI QIDQ1742835FDOQ1742835

Authors: K. L. H. Bryan, A. J. M. Medved 

Publication date: 12 April 2018

Published in: Foundations of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: There are a number of problematic features within the current treatment of time in physical theories, including the "timelessness" of the Universe as encapsulated by the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. This paper considers one particular investigation into resolving this issue; a conditional probability interpretation that was first proposed by Page and Wooters. Those authors addressed the apparent timelessness by subdividing a faux Universe into two entangled parts, "the clock" and "the remainder of the Universe", and then synchronizing the effective dynamics of the two subsystems by way of conditional probabilities. The current treatment focuses on the possibility of using a (somewhat) realistic clock system; namely, a coherent-state description of a damped harmonic oscillator. This clock proves to be consistent with the conditional probability interpretation; in particular, a standard evolution operator is identified with the position of the clock playing the role of time for the rest of the Universe. Restrictions on the damping factor are determined and, perhaps contrary to expectations, the optimal choice of clock is not necessarily one of minimal damping.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.02531

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zbMATH Keywords

Wheeler-DeWitt equationUniverse without time

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Applications of statistics to physics (62P35) Philosophical and critical aspects of logic and foundations (03A05) Quantum coherence, entanglement, quantum correlations (81P40) Quantization of the gravitational field (83C45) Relativistic gravitational theories other than Einstein's, including asymmetric field theories (83D05) Relativistic cosmology (83F05)

Cites Work

• Quantum Theory of Gravity. I. The Canonical Theory
• Foundations of Quantum Mechanics
• Time and interpretations of quantum gravity
• The quantum damped harmonic oscillator
• Quantum random access memory
• Semi-classical limit and minimum decoherence in the conditional probability interpretation of quantum mechanics
• The Role of Statistics in the Methodology of the Life Sciences

Cited In (4)

• RELATIONAL TIME FOR SYSTEMS OF OSCILLATORS
• Dependence of the time-reading process of the Salecker-Wigner quantum clock on the size of the clock
• Information processing with Page-Wootters states
• Principles of Distributed Systems

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