From permanence to total availability: a quantum conceptual upgrade

TL;DR

This paper proposes a quantum conceptual upgrade by replacing the classical notion of permanence time with a quantum operator, emphasizing the non-spatial nature of quantum entities and redefining 'time' as total availability in quantum processes.

Contribution

It introduces a self-adjoint operator for permanence time in quantum mechanics, challenging traditional spatial interpretations and redefining the concept of time in quantum contexts.

Findings

Quantum permanence time is represented by a self-adjoint operator.

Quantum entities lack definite spatial trajectories.

Time in quantum mechanics measures total availability, not spatial localization.

Abstract

We consider the classical concept of time of permanence and observe that its quantum equivalent is described by a bona fide self-adjoint operator. Its interpretation, by means of the spectral theorem, reveals that we have to abandon not only the idea that quantum entities would be characterizable in terms of spatial trajectories but, more generally, that they would possess the very attribute of spatiality. Consequently, a permanence time shouldn't be interpreted as a "time" in quantum mechanics, but as a measure of the total availability of a quantum entity in participating to a process of creation of a spatial localization.