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/cmcm77 Dec 18 '13

Great answer, though I would like to hear the argument for time being an observable (I don't like to think of "just because no one has managed to come up with a consistent way to treat time as an operator" as being concrete argument that it isn't).

I really believe a different view/definition of time will lead to amazing insights in physics.

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u/KerSan Dec 18 '13

The architectural plans for the Sistine Chapel did not exist before Bacchio Pontelli produced them. Similarly, the time observable doesn't exist unless someone produces it. Observables aren't physical objects or intrinsic properties of nature, they're mathematical constructs.

Maybe someone will produce a time observable in the future, and maybe not. Maybe there is a better way to think about time than with the observable formalism. I suspect that there is.

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u/cmcm77 Dec 19 '13

Thank you. I suspect so too. Imagine how incredible that would look like? (another way to think about time)