Just a matter of time

Dirk John Pons, Arion Douglas Pons, Aiden Jasper Pons

A non-local hidden-variable (NLHV) design called the Cordus conjecture is applied to address the ontological question: What is time? A novel multi-level concept emerges for time, and the origin of the arrow is also explained. According to this theory, time at the fundamental level consists of the frequency oscillations of matter particules, and thus time is locally generated and a property of matter. At the next level up, that of the assembly of matter particles via bonds and fields, the interconnectedness creates a patchwork of temporal cause-and-effect, and hence a coarser time. Entropy, classical mechanics, the arrow, and our perception of time are shown to all arise at the transition from coherence to decoherence. Time at the macroscopic level is therefore a series of delayed irreversible interactions (temporal ratchets) between sub-microscopic domains of matter, not a dimension that can be traversed in both directions. The theory extends to time at the level of organic life. It explains how the human-perception of time arises at the cognitive level, and why we perceive time as universal. This theory suggests that time is all of particle-based vs. spacetime, relative vs. absolute, local vs. universal, depending on the level of assembly being considered. However it is also none of those things individually.

Mark Buchanan

Nicholas K Whitlock, James D. Cresser, Stephen Mark Barnett +1 more

We derive a quantum theory of matter-wave detection from microscopic considerations. We calculate both the short-time approximation and the long-time correction to the detection rate of matter waves. The detection rate can be related to the flux of the matter waves through a detector medium.

Florian J. Boge

Chaitanya Paranjape, Gilad Perez, Wolfram Ratzinger +1 more

The local solar gravitational potential forms a basin for ultralight dark matter (ULDM), with discrete energy levels. Even if barely populated, it introduces a new characteristic timescale in DM dynamics. This necessitates a generalization of the notion of coherence time. We find that, at long times, the phenomenon of recoherence emerges, whereby a subcomponent of ULDM exhibits a formally divergent coherence time. The fact that this generalized coherence time can significantly exceed the naive estimate implies an enhanced sensitivity for dark matter searches that accumulate data over extended observation periods.