Why Time's Description in Modern Physics is Still Incomplete

We present some novel results indicating that time's description in present-day physics is deficient. We use Hawking's information-erasure hypothesis to counter his own claim that time's arrow depends only on initial conditions. Next, we propose quantum mechanical experiments that yield inconsistent histories, sug- gesting that not only events but also entire histories might be governed by a more fundamental dynamics. 1. The Stalemate The problem associated with time's nature is well known. It stems from two aspects of time that cannot be reconciled:

[1]  Albert Einstein,et al.  Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete? , 1935 .

[2]  John Archibald Wheeler,et al.  The “Past” and the “Delayed-Choice” Double-Slit Experiment , 1978 .

[3]  J. Cramer,et al.  The transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics , 1986 .

[4]  H. Paul Interference between independent photons , 1986 .

[5]  O. C. D. Beauregard On the zigzagging causality EPR model: Answer to Vigier and coworkers and to Sutherland , 1987 .

[6]  Vaidman,et al.  Properties of a quantum system during the time interval between two measurements. , 1990, Physical review. A, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics.

[7]  Lucien Hardy,et al.  On the existence of empty waves in quantum theory , 1992 .

[8]  S.W.Hawking The Nature of Space and Time , 1994 .

[9]  Negative Kinetic Energy between Past and Future State Vectors a , 1994, cond-mat/9406116.

[10]  P. Davies About Time: Einstein's Unfinished Revolution , 1995 .

[11]  A. Elitzur,et al.  Black-hole uncertainty entails an intrinsic time arrow: A note on the Hawking-Penrose controversy , 1999, gr-qc/0012060.

[12]  Black Hole Evaporation Entails an Objective Passage of Time , 2000, quant-ph/0012081.

[13]  Indeterminism and time symmetry are incompatible: A Reply to Rȩbilas , 2000, gr-qc/0012061.

[14]  A. Elitzur,et al.  Non-Sequential Behavior of the Wave Function , 2001, quant-ph/0102109.

[15]  Time-Reversed EPR and the Choice of Histories in Quantum Mechanics , 2002, quant-ph/0205182.

[16]  M. Saniga Geometry of time and Dimensionality of Space , 2003, physics/0301003.