English

A note on the quantum of time

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2008-11-26 v2 High Energy Physics - Theory Quantum Physics

Abstract

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 existence of a nonzero uncertainty in the time variable. The existence of a quantum of time modifies the Heisenberg evolution equation for observables. In this letter we propose and analyse a generalisation of Heisenberg's equation for observables evolving in real time (the time variable measured by real clocks), that takes the existence of a quantum of time into account. This generalisation of Heisenberg's equation turns out to be a delay-differential equation.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0804.0169,
  title  = {A note on the quantum of time},
  author = {J. M. Isidro and J. L. Gonzalez-Santander and P. Fernandez de Cordoba},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0804.0169},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

4 pages, some refs added

R2 v1 2026-06-21T10:26:36.152Z