A subquantum arrow of time

Open Access
Authors
Publication date 2014
Journal Journal of Physics. Conference Series
Event EmQM13: 2nd Emergent Quantum Mechanics 2013
Article number 012008
Volume | Issue number 504
Number of pages 10
Organisations
  • Faculty of Science (FNWI) - Institute of Physics (IoP) - Institute for Theoretical Physics Amsterdam (ITFA)
Abstract
The outcome of a single quantum experiment is unpredictable, except in a pure-state limit. The definite process that takes place in the apparatus may either be intrinsically random or be explainable from a deeper theory. While the first scenario is the standard lore, the latter implies that quantum mechanics is emergent. In that case, it is likely that one has to reconsider radiation by accelerated charges as a physical effect, which thus must be compensated by an energy input. Stochastic electrodynamics, for example, asserts that the vacuum energy arises from classical fluctuations with energy 1/2hslashω per mode. In such theories the stability of the hydrogen ground state will arise from energy input from fluctuations and output by radiation, hence due to an energy throughput. That flux of energy constitutes an arrow of time, which we call the "subquantum arrow of time". It is related to the stability of matter and it is more fundamental than, e.g., the thermodynamic and cosmological arrows.
Document type Article
Note EmQM13: Emergent Quantum Mechanics 2013 : 3-6 October 2013, Vienna, Austria
Language English
Published at https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/504/1/012008
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A subquantum arrow of time (Final published version)
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