Related papers: Quantum clock and Newtonian time
The origin and nature of time in complex systems is explored using quantum (or 'Feynman') clocks and the signals produced by them. Networks of these clocks provide the basis for the evolution of complex systems. The general concept of…
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…
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.…
We show that Feynman's Clock construction, in which the time-evolution of a closed quantum system is encoded as a ground state problem, can be extended to open quantum systems. In our formalism, the ground states of an ensemble of…
We characterize good clocks, which are naturally subject to fluctuations, in statistical terms. We also obtain the master equation that governs the evolution of quantum systems according to these clocks and find its general solution. This…
It is expected that a quantum theory of gravity will radically alter our current notion of spacetime geometry. However, contrary to what was commonly assumed for many decades, quantum gravity effects could manifest in scales much larger…
Quantum timeless approaches solve the problem of time by recovering the usual unitary evolution of quantum theory relative to a clock in a stationary quantum Universe. For some Hamiltonians of the Universe, such as those including an…
Classical clocks measure proper time along their worldline, and Riemannian geometry provides tools for predicting the time shown by clocks in both flat and curved spacetimes. Common approaches to time in quantum systems, based for instance…
The problem of time is a deep paradox in our physical description of the world. According to Aristotle's relational theory, time is a measure of change and does not exist on its own. In contrast, quantum mechanics, just like Newtonian…
The use of a relational time in quantum mechanics is a framework in which one promotes to quantum operators all variables in a system, and later chooses one of the variables to operate like a ``clock''. Conditional probabilities are…
We present a model of discrete quantum evolution based on quantum correlations between the evolving system and a reference quantum clock system. A quantum circuit for the model is provided, which in the case of a constant Hamiltonian is…
The basic tenet of the present work is the assumption of the lack of external and fixed time in the Universe. This assumption is best embodied by general relativity, which replaces the fixed space-time structure with the gravitational…
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…
Time in relativity theory has a status different from that adopted by standard quantum mechanics, where time is considered as a parameter measured with reference to an external absolute Newtonian frame. This status strongly restricts its…
Classically, one could imagine a completely static space, thus without time. As is known, this picture is unconceivable in quantum physics due to vacuum fluctuations. The fundamental difference between the two frameworks is that classical…
In classical physics, clocks are open dissipative systems driven from thermal equilibrium and necessarily subject to thermal noise. We describe a quantum clock driven by entropy reduction through measurement. The mechanism consists of a…
The operational approach to time is a cornerstone of relativistic theories, as evidenced by the notion of proper time. In standard quantum mechanics, however, time is an external parameter. Recently, many attempts have been made to extend…
A quantum clock cannot be modeled as a point mass moving along a single geodesic if it is in a state with nonzero position fluctuations. Instead, it is an extended object subject to tidal forces and a superposition of time dilations at…
A quantum clock must satisfy two basic constraints. The first is a bound on the time resolution of the clock given by the difference between its maximum and minimum energy eigenvalues. The second follows from Holevo's bound on how much…
A fundamental description of time can be consistent not only with the usual monotonic behavior but also with a periodic physical clock variable, coupled to the degrees of freedom of a system evolving in time. Generically, one would in fact…