Time dispersion in quantum electrodynamics

TL;DR

This paper extends quantum electrodynamics by integrating over all energy-momentum paths, revealing time dispersion and entanglement, eliminating divergences, and predicting effects at attosecond scales, with testable implications for physics and quantum technology.

Contribution

It introduces a covariant extension of QED that includes time dispersion and entanglement, unifying space and time in the path integral framework and removing ultraviolet divergences.

Findings

Elimination of ultraviolet divergences in QED.

Prediction of observable effects at attosecond scales.

Establishment of a testable, falsifiable theoretical framework.

Abstract

If we use the path integral approach, we can write quantum electrodynamics (QED) in a way that is manifestly relativistic. However the path integrals are confined to paths that are on mass-shell. What happens if we extend QED by computing the path integrals over all paths in energy momentum space, not only those on mass-shell? We use the requirement of covariance to do this in an unambiguous way. This gives a QED where the time/energy components appear in a way that is manifestly parallel to the space/momentum components: we have dispersion in time, entanglement in time, full equivalence of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle (HUP) in time to the HUP in space, and so on. Entanglement in time has the welcome side effect of eliminating the ultraviolet divergences. We recover standard QED in the long time limit. We predict effects at scales of attoseconds. With recent developments in attosecond physics and in quantum computing, these effects should be detectable. Since the predictions are unambiguous and testable the approach is falsifiable. Falsification would sharpen our understanding of the role of time in QED. Confirmation would have significant implications for attosecond physics, quantum computing and communications, and quantum grav