Submission + - Quantum Mechanics and Time?
This lead me to an idea that I'm putting out there for you to comment on. I'm almost sure that it falls into one of the following categories:
1. This is obvious and already known to anyone who knows anything about quantum mechanics.
2. It is silly for the following reason...
3. Hmm... interesting.
So, please help me out with you comments!
Here's the idea I had:
I thought about how we routinely project 3d scenes on a 2d video screen. When this is done, a dimension appears to disappear. You might be able to see the entire stream of bullets shot from directly in front of you (if they were translucent) but you would not know which was closer and which farther away because the depth dimension is "missing" from the 2d projection (I know the bullets that are closer would appear bigger, but let's ignore that). In fact, depth is not missing from the 2d projection, rather it is "compressed" in such a way that we see all of it without being able to pick out any point along it.
What if the quantum particles we see are a 3d projection of the 4d SpaceTime? If so, we would expect that the entire time dimension would be compressed. It the particles don't "experience" time, can this explain why they react instantly?
Lastly, what would we see looking at such particles? I imagine an electron orbit. It is like a train on a track. If we want to know where the train is, we are actually asking: Where is the train at some given time? Without the time component, we can't specify where the train is on the track. If we think of the electron, assuming it represents a 3d projection with time "compressed out", we would expect to see all of time. I was really surprised by this because the probability function used to describe the electron before it is observed seems to me to be exactly this!
This might be the weirdest and nerdiest comment I have seen on Slashdot. All I can say in my defence is: Slashdot is billed as being for nerds
Cheers
Bruce."