Related papers: Requiem for an ideal clock

A formalism for quantizing time reparametrization invariant dynamics is considered and applied to systems which contain an `almost ideal clock.' Previously, this formalism was successfully applied to the Bianchi models and, while it…

The understanding of time and dynamics can be elucidated by examining the concept of entanglement in quantum theory. This particular perspective on time is referred to as the timeless approach, which posits that the universe exists in a…

In quantum theory, the concept of time rests on shaky ground. One way to address this problem is to remove the usual background time parameter as a primitive entity and explain its emergence via correlations between physical systems. This…

The time-of-arrival problem asks for the probability distribution for when a quantum particle reaches a specified location. It has been the subject of decades of debate, exemplifying the lack of a self-adjoint time observable in quantum…

We present an implementation of a recently proposed procedure for defining time, based on the description of the evolving system and its clock as non-interacting, entangled systems, according to the Page and Wootters approach. We study how…

A commonly adopted relational account of time evolution in generally-covariant systems, and more specifically in quantum cosmology, is argued to be unsatisfactory, insofar as it describes evolution relative to observed readings of a clock…

We consider a quantum Universe composed by a small system S and a large environment. It has been demonstrated that, for the vast majority of randomly chosen wave-functions of the Universe satisfying a total energy constraint, the reduced…

We show that the emergence of time evolution in an otherwise timeless nonrelativistic closed quantum system -- viewed as a poor man's model of generally covariant quantum theory -- can be understood from the perspective of the path integral…

In quantum theory, physical systems are usually assumed to evolve relative to a c-number time. This c-number time is unphysical and has turned out to be unnecessary for explaining dynamics: in the timeless approach to quantum theory…

We introduced with coauthors some years ago a solution to the problem of time in quantum gravity which consists in formulating the quantum theory in terms of real clocks. It combines Page and Wootters' relational proposal with Rovelli's…

In this review we present the problem of time in quantum physics, including a short history of the problem and the known objections about considering time a quantum observable. The need to deal with time as an observable is elaborated…

In the minisuperspace models of quantum cosmology, the absence of time in the Wheeler-DeWitt (constraint) equation, is the main point leading to the generally accepted conclusion that in the quantum cosmology there is no possibility to…

Jacobi's action principle is known to lead to a problem of time. For example, the timelessness of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation can be seen as resulting from using Jacobi's principle to define the dynamics of 3-geometries through superspace.…

The nature of time as emergent for a system by separating it from its environment has been put forward by Page and Wootters [D. N. Page and W. K. Wootters, Phys. Rev. D 27, 2885 (1983)] in a quantum mechanical setting neglecting interaction…

Even though quantum systems in energy eigenstates do not evolve in time, they can exhibit correlations between internal degrees of freedom in such a way that one of the internal degrees of freedom behaves like a clock variable, and thereby…

The wave-function in quantum gravity is supposed to obey the Wheeler-DeWitt (WDW) equation, however there is neither a satisfactory probability interpretation nor a successful solution to the problem of time in the WDW framework. To gain…

In a seminal paper (Page and Wootters 1983) Page and Wootters suggest time evolution could be described solely in terms of correlations between systems and clocks, as a means of dealing with the "problem of time" stemming from vanishing…

The local conservation of a physical quantity whose distribution changes with time is mathematically described by the continuity equation. The corresponding time parameter, however, is defined with respect to an idealized classical clock.…

In the framework of any quantum theory in the Schroedinger picture a general operator time concept is given. For this purpose certain systems are emphasized as ideal quantum clocks. Their definition follows heuristically from a common…

We discuss the problem of time in spherically symmetric pure Einstein gravity with the cosmological term by using an exact solution to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. A positive definite inner product is defined, based on the momentum…