Evolution without evolution and without ambiguities

C. Marletto and V. Vedral
Phys. Rev. D 95, 043510 – Published 13 February 2017

Abstract

In quantum theory it is possible to explain time, and dynamics, in terms of entanglement. This is the timeless approach to time, which assumes that the universe is in a stationary state, where two noninteracting subsystems, the “clock” and the “rest,” are entangled. As a consequence, by choosing a suitable observable of the clock, the relative state of the rest of the universe evolves unitarily with respect to the variable labeling the clock observable’s eigenstates, which is then interpreted as time. This model for an “evolution without evolution” (Page and Wootters, 1983), albeit elegant, has never been developed further, because it was criticized for generating severe ambiguities in the dynamics of the rest of the universe. In this paper we show that there are no such ambiguities; we also update the model, making it amenable to possible new applications.

  • Received 15 October 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.95.043510

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Quantum Information, Science & TechnologyGravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

Authors & Affiliations

C. Marletto1 and V. Vedral1,2

  • 1Physics Department, University of Oxford, Parks Road, OX1 3PU Oxford, United Kingdom
  • 2Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, Block S15, 3 Science Drive 2, 117543, Singapore

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Issue

Vol. 95, Iss. 4 — 15 February 2017

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