Time and Spacetime: The Crystallizing Block Universe

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new model called the Crystallizing Block Universe that describes how quantum indeterminacy transitions to classical certainty over time, contrasting with the traditional Evolving Block Universe model.

Contribution

It introduces the Crystallizing Block Universe as a novel framework for understanding the quantum-to-classical transition in spacetime structure.

Findings

Quantum effects cause the future to be indeterminate and 'weird'

The transition from quantum indeterminacy to classical certainty is gradual and patchy

The Crystallizing Block Universe model better captures quantum phenomena in spacetime

Abstract

The nature of the future is completely different from the nature of the past. When quantum effects are significant, the future shows all the signs of quantum weirdness, including duality, uncertainty, and entanglement. With the passage of time, after the time-irreversible process of state-vector reduction has taken place, the past emerges, with the previous quantum uncertainty replaced by the classical certainty of definite particle identities and states. The present time is where this transition largely takes place, but the process does not take place uniformly: Evidence from delayed choice and related experiments shows that isolated patches of quantum indeterminacy remain, and that their transition from probability to certainty only takes place later. Thus, when quantum effects are significant, the picture of a classical Evolving Block Universe (`EBU') cedes place to one of a Crystallizing Block Universe (`CBU'), which reflects this quantum transition from indeterminacy to certainty, while nevertheless resembling the EBU on large enough scales.