Related papers: Salecker-Wigner-Karolyhazy Gedankenexperiment in l…
The precision of optical atomic clocks is approaching a regime where they resolve gravitational time dilation on smaller scales than their own extensions. Hence, an accurate description of quantum clocks has to take their spatial extension…
We critically discuss the measure of very short time intervals. By means of a "gedankenexperiment", we describe an ideal clock based on the occurrence of completely random events. We show that the minimum time interval Delta t that this…
It is rarely emphasized in modern physics textbooks that our definitions of space and time have to reflect their complete interdependence. Our intuitive methods of always picturing one-dimensional space as a sum of unit-length rods and of…
An overview of space tests searching for small deviations from special relativity arising at the Planck scale is given. Potential high-sensitivity space-based experiments include ones with atomic clocks, masers, and electromagnetic…
The starting point of this work is the axiomatic existence of a smallest measurable interval, viz. the Planck time $t_P$, set by quantum fluctuations in the vacuum metric tensor. By the Relativity Principle, the same limit must then apply…
We discuss a limit for sensitivity of length measurements which is due to the effect of vacuum fluctuations of gravitational field. This limit is associated with irreducible quantum fluctuations of geodesic distances and it is characterized…
Standard treatments of general relativity accept the gravitational slowing of clocks as a primary phenomenon, requiring no further analysis as to cause. Rejecting this attitude, I argue that one or more of the fundamental "constants"…
In an apparently unexplored region of relativistic spacetime, a simple thought experiment demonstrates that conjoined Lorentz transformations predict a proper clock at rest will run backwards and that prediction violates the logical…
Recent authors have addressed the Reichenbach assertions that the one-way velocity of light, OWVL, cannot be measured because we lack a method to synchronize distant clocks, and that one needs OWVL to synchronize distant clocks. Thus, one…
The Planck or the quantum gravity scale, being $16$ orders of magnitude greater than the electroweak scale, is often considered inaccessible by current experimental techniques. However, it was shown recently by one of the current authors…
We have argued that quantum mechanics and general relativity give a lower bound $\delta l \gtrsim l^{1/3} l_P^{2/3}$ on the measurement uncertainty of any distance $l$ much greater than the Planck length $l_P$. Recently Baez and Olson have…
We present a definition of time measurement based on high energy photons and the fundamental length scale, and show that, for macroscopic time, it is in accord with the Lorentz transformation of special relativity. To do this we define…
First principles do imply a non-zero minimal distance between events in spacetime, but no positive lower bound to the precision of the measurement of a single coordinate.
A careful study is made of the operational meaning of the time symbols appearing in the space-time Lorentz transformation. Four distinct symbols, with different physical meanings, are needed to describe reciprocal measurements involving…
Space-like and time-like invariant space-time intervals are used to analyse measurements of spatial and temporal distances. The former are found to be Lorentz invariant --there is no `relativistic length contraction', whereas the latter…
A structured collection of thought provoking conclusions about space and time is given. Using only the Compton wavelength lambda = hbar / m c and the Schwarzschild radius r_s = 2 G m / c^2, it is argued that neither the continuity of…
We propose a quantum experiment to measure with high precision the Schwarzschild space-time parameters of the Earth. The scheme can also be applied to measure distances by taking into account the curvature of the Earth's space-time. As a…
Einstein's theory of general relativity states that clocks at different gravitational potentials tick at different rates - an effect known as the gravitational redshift. As fundamental probes of space and time, atomic clocks have long…
The main theoretical aspects of gravitomagnetism are reviewed. It is shown that the gravitomagnetic precession of a gyroscope is intimately connected with the special temporal structure around a rotating mass that is revealed by the…
The theory of relativity associates a proper time with each moving object via its world line. In quantum theory however, such well-defined trajectories are forbidden. After introducing a general characterisation of quantum clocks, we…