Heidelberg 2022 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 10: Quantum Mechanics II

AGPhil 10.4: Vortrag

Donnerstag, 24. März 2022, 15:30–16:00, AGPhil-H14

Change and Time in Quantum Mechanics — •Brittany Gentry — Utah State University, Logan, USA

While it is apparent that leading physical theories such as Relativity Theory and standard interpretations of Quantum Mechanics do not posit a real, or fundamental, time, the search for real time persists. One reason for continuing to posit real time is the concern that time is necessary to change. Examples of this concern as well as confusing claims that may lead others to that concern abound in philosophy of physics, even from physicists who agree that real time is unnecessary to physical theories. To address that concern, this paper argues that one way to separate time and change is to understand time as a construct that we use to slice up 4-dimensional Hilbert space into 3-dimensional space for the purpose of further distinguishing differences in the basic stuff occupying Hilbert space--namely, particles. On such a view, changes are the differences in positions that we observe in the stuff of Hilbert space and time is a construct that we sometimes place on this space to articulate these differences--and this conception of our QM models allows us to conceive of changes in a way that is independent of time. Time is a helpful feature of the model that we apply at certain levels, but not essential to the existence of the changes that we study. It leaves unaddressed the question of whether changes are real or apparent. However, this explanation makes progress in tidying up concerns regarding time in QM by removing the confusions surrounding the relationship between time and change.