Relational evolution with oscillating clocks

TL;DR

This paper explores how oscillating quantum clocks can be integrated into fundamental physics, revealing that coherence can be maintained over long timescales if clock periods are sufficiently small, and setting bounds on clock properties.

Contribution

It introduces a framework for describing quantum systems with oscillating clocks, extending traditional monotonic time concepts and deriving observational bounds on fundamental clock periods.

Findings

Coherence persists over long times if clock period is much smaller than system period.

An upper bound on clock period is derived from atomic clock precision constraints.

Oscillating clocks can be incorporated into quantum evolution without losing coherence.

Abstract

A fundamental description of time can be consistent not only with the usual monotonic behavior but also with a periodic physical clock variable, coupled to the degrees of freedom of a system evolving in time. Generically, one would in fact expect some kind of oscillating motion of a system that is dynamical and interacts with its surroundings, as required for a fundamental clock that can be noticed by any other system. Unitary evolution does not require a monotonic clock variable and can be achieved more generally by formally unwinding the periodic clock movement, keeping track not only of the value of the clock variable but also of the number of cycles it has gone through at any moment. As a result, the clock is generically in a quantum state with a superposition of different clock cycles, a key feature that distinguishes oscillating clocks from monotonic time. Because the clock and an evolving system have a common conserved energy, the clock is in different cycles for different energy eigenstates of the system state. Coherence could therefore be lost faster than observed, for instance if a system that would be harmonic in isolation is made anharmonic by interactions with a fundamental clock, implying observational bounds on fundamental clocks. Numerical computations show that coherence is almost maintained over long time scales provided the clock period is much smaller than the system period. Since the precision of atomic clocks could not be achieved if atomic frequencies would be subject to additional variations from coupling to a fundamental clock, an upper bound on the clock period can be obtained that turns out to be much smaller than currently available direct or indirect measurements of time. (abbreviated)