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Related papers: What if Time Really Exists?

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We discuss the emergence of time in quantum gravity, and ask whether time is always "something that flows"'. We first recall that this is indeed the case in both relativity and quantum mechanics, although in very different manners: time…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2012-04-10 Pierre Martinetti

Many believe that the deep question of "why is there something rather than nothing?" is unanswerable. The universe just is and no further explanation for its existence is possible. In this paper I explain why this question must have an…

General Physics · Physics 2012-05-15 Peter Lynds

Space and time are central concepts for understanding our World. They are important ingredients at the core of every scientific theory and subject of intense debate in philosophy. Albert Einstein's Special and General theories of Relativity…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2021-08-06 Luciano Combi

The conceptual definition and understanding of the nature of time, both qualitatively and quantitatively is of the utmost difficulty and importance, and plays a fundamental role in physics. Physical systems seem to evolve in paths of…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2015-01-14 Francisco S. N. Lobo

This essay examines our fundamental conceptions of time, spacetime, the asymmetry of time, and the motion of a quantum mechanical particle. The concept of time has multiple meanings and these are often confused in the literature and must be…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2014-08-15 Gerald E. Marsh

We argue that in classical and quantum theories of gravity the configuration space and Hilbert space may not be constructible through any finite procedure. If this is the case then the "problem of time" in quantum cosmology may be a…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2007-05-23 Stuart Kauffman , Lee Smolin

The existence of a thermodynamic arrow of time in the present universe implies that the initial state of the observable portion of our universe at (or near) the ``big bang'' must have been very ``special''. We argue that it is not plausible…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2007-05-23 Robert M. Wald

With the theory of special relativity, time has been linked with space into a four-dimensional space-time from which a basic question must be asked: can space be really transformed into time and vice-versa? The response is affirmative if…

General Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Christian Pierre

Despite the success of modern physics in formulating mathematical theories that can predict the outcome of experiments, we have made remarkably little progress towards answering the most fundamental question of: why is there a universe at…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2012-08-24 Stuart Heinrich

Are time-travels possible? is the past still existing? and is the future already existing? We try to give an answer to these an other questions concerning the properties of time and the close connection (but deep physical difference)…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2025-07-09 Maurizio Gasperini

I dissent from the standard assertion of a "Two Times Problem," in which physical time is taken as being at odds with the human sense of a "flow of time." I provide a brief overview of the case to be made for the contrary view: namely, that…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2023-07-18 Ruth E. Kastner

This paper extends the work of a previous paper [arXiv:1208.2611] on the flow of time, to consider the origin of the arrow of time. It proposes that a `past condition' cascades down from cosmological to micro scales, being realized in many…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2013-03-04 George F R Ellis

The essay is devoted to the problem of time in the context of quantum cosmology, which acquires a philosophical level to date. At an example of the minisuperspace model, we show that this problem is illusive in the sense that it does not…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2021-08-23 Sergey L. Cherkas , Vladimir L. Kalashnikov

This paper shall explore the conjunction of eternalism and Everettian quantum mechanics. It shall be argued that there is a strong analogy between these two views. In case there is an indefinite number of worlds and observers that are all…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2025-05-29 Matias Slavov

The contemporary physics has revealed growing evidences that the emergence can be applied to not only biology and condensed matter systems but also gravity and spacetime. We observe that noncommutative spacetime necessarily implies emergent…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2015-04-03 Hyun Seok Yang

Quantum mechanics rests on the assumption that time is a classical variable. As such, classical time is assumed to be measurable with infinite accuracy. However, all real clocks are subject to quantum fluctuations, which leads to the…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2008-11-26 J. M. Isidro , J. L. Gonzalez-Santander , P. Fernandez de Cordoba

Time plays a fundamental role in our ability to make sense of the physical laws in the world around us. The nature of time has puzzled people -- from the ancient Greeks to the present day -- resulting in a long running debate between…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-09-23 Sergii Strelchuk , Mischa P. Woods

There is a deep structural link between acausal spacetimes and quantum theory. As a consequence quantum theory may resolve some "paradoxes" of time travel. Conversely, non-time-orientable spacetimes naturally give rise to electric charges…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2007-05-23 Mark J Hadley

Programs in quantum gravity often claim that time emerges from fundamentally timeless physics. In the semiclassical time program time arises only after approximations are taken. Here we ask what justifies taking these approximations and…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2023-03-28 Eugene Y. S. Chua , Craig Callender

I would like to consider the Beginning of space-time in this paper. First of all, we do consideration historical thought. A lot of philosophers have considered the relation between this real phenomenal world and the basic world in which the…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2011-03-07 Tadashi Fujimoto