An experimentally testable proof of the discreteness of time
Abstract
By proposing a paradox between the impossibility of superluminal signal transfer and the normalization condition of wavefunctions, we predict that when a change happens to the conditions that determining the status of a quantum system, the system will show no response to this change at all, until after a certain time interval. Otherwise either special relativity or quantum mechanics will be violated. As a consequence, no physical process can actually happen within Planck time. Therefore time is discrete, with Planck time being the smallest unit. More intriguingly, systems with a larger size and a slower speed will have a larger unit of time. Unlike many other interpretations of the discreteness of time, our proof can be tested, at less partly, by experiments. Our result also sets a limit on the speed of computers, and gives instruction to the search of quantum gravity theories.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0911.2416,
title = {An experimentally testable proof of the discreteness of time},
author = {Guang Ping He},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0911.2416},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Added an appendix on another solution of the evolution of the wavefunction, which satisfies the normalization condition but still violates quantum mechanics