What if Time Really Exists?

Nov, 2008
9 pages
e-Print:

Citations per year

2009201320172021202301234
Abstract: (arXiv)
Despite the obvious utility of the concept, it has often been argued that time does not exist. I take the opposite perspective: let's imagine that time does exist, and the universe is described by a quantum state obeying ordinary time-dependent quantum mechanics. Reconciling this simple picture with the known facts about our universe turns out to be a non-trivial task, but by taking it seriously we can infer deep facts about the fundamental nature of reality. The arrow of time finds a plausible explanation in a 'Heraclitean universe,' described by a quantum state eternally evolving in an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space.
Note:
  • Submission to the Foundational Questions Institute Essay Competition on 'The Nature of Time'
  • time: asymmetry
  • quantum mechanics: time dependence
  • duality
  • fluctuation: statistical
  • entropy
  • Hilbert space
  • quantum gravity
  • Schroedinger equation
  • string model