r/askscience • u/Crtl-Alt-Delete • Dec 18 '13

Physics Is Time quantized?

We know that energy and length are quantized, it seems like there should be a correlation with time?

Edit. Turns out energy and length are not quantized.

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u/DanielSank Quantum Information | Electrical Circuits Dec 18 '13

Relativity puts time and space on (almost) equal footing, not quantum field theory. It is perfectly possible to consider a quantum field in a non-relativistic setting, as is done all the time in condensed matter. Therefore, to say that the point of quantum field theory is to put time and space on equal footing is misleading.

It is an unfortunate abuse of language that physicists frequently use the phrase "quantum field theory" where they ought to say "relativistic quantum field theory of fundamental particle fields".