No Arabic abstract
Quantum Theory, similar to Relativity Theory, requires a new concept of space-time, imposed by a universal constant. While velocity of light $c$ not being infinite calls for a redefinition of space-time on large and cosmological scales, quantization of action in terms of a finite, i.e. non vanishing, universal constant $h$ requires a redefinition of space-time on very small scales. Most importantly, the classical notion of time, as one common continuous time variable and nature evolving continuously in time, has to be replaced by an infinite manifold of transition rates for discontinuous quantum transitions. The fundamental laws of quantum physics, commutation relations and quantum equations of motion, resulted from Max Borns recognition of the basic principle of quantum physics: {bf To each change in nature corresponds an integer number of quanta of action}. Action variables may only change by integer values of $h$, requiring all other physical quantities to change by discrete steps, quantum jumps. The mathematical implementation of this principle led to commutation relations and quantum equations of motion. The notion of point in space-time looses its physical significance; quantum uncertainties of time, position, just as any other physical quantity, are necessary consequences of quantization of action.
The concept of time as used in various applications and interpretations of quantum theory is briefly reviewed.
Via the proper-time eigenstates (event states) instead of the proper-mass eigenstates (particle states), free-motion time-of-arrival theory for massive spin-1/2 particles is developed at the level of quantum field theory. The approach is based on a position-momentum dual formalism. Within the framework of field quantization, the total time-of-arrival is the sum of the single event-of-arrival contributions, and contains zero-point quantum fluctuations because the clocks under consideration follow the laws of quantum mechanics.
Effective Field Theory (EFT) is the successful paradigm underlying modern theoretical physics, including the Core Theory of the Standard Model of particle physics plus Einsteins general relativity. I will argue that EFT grants us a unique insight: each EFT model comes with a built-in specification of its domain of applicability. Hence, once a model is tested within some domain (of energies and interaction strengths), we can be confident that it will continue to be accurate within that domain. Currently, the Core Theory has been tested in regimes that include all of the energy scales relevant to the physics of everyday life (biology, chemistry, technology, etc.). Therefore, we have reason to be confident that the laws of physics underlying the phenomena of everyday life are completely known.
The scalar field of extremal space-time film is considered as unified fundamental field. Metrical interaction between solitons-particles as gravitational interaction is considered here in approximation of a weak fundamental field. It is shown that the signature of metrics ${-,+,+,+}$ in the model formulation provides the observable gravitational attraction to a region with bigger energy density of the fundamental field. The induced gravitational interaction in the space-time film theory is applied to stars in a galaxy. The conception of galaxy soliton of space-time film is introduced. A weak field asymptotic solution for a galaxy soliton is proposed. It is shown that the effective metrics for this solution can provide the observable velocity curves for galaxies and explains their spiral structure. Thus a solution for so-called dark matter problem in the framework of space-time film theory is proposed.
Conventional optical synthesis, the manipulation of the phase and amplitude of spectral components to produce an optical pulse in different temporal modes, is revolutionizing ultrafast optical science and metrology. These technologies rely on the Fourier transform of light fields between time and frequency domains in one-dimensional space. However, within this treatment it is impossible to incorporate the quantum correlation among photons. Here we expand the Fourier synthesis into high dimensional space to deal with the quantum correlation, and carry out an experimental demonstration by manipulating the two-photon probability distribution of a biphoton in two-dimensional time and frequency space. As a potential application, we show manipulation of a heralded single-photon wave packet, which is never explained by the conventional one-dimensional Fourier optics. Our approach opens up a new pathway to tailor the temporal characteristics of a biphoton wave packet with high dimensional quantum-mechanical treatment. We anticipate such high dimensional treatment of light in time and frequency domains could bridge the research fields between quantum optics and ultrafast optical measurements.