Time in Quantum Mechanics
A special issue of Entropy (ISSN 1099-4300). This special issue belongs to the section "Time".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 27 February 2026 | Viewed by 431
Special Issue Editor
Interests: quantum foundations; molecular electronics; nonequilibrium statistical mechanics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
At the foundations of quantum theory, many unresolved puzzles concerning the basic nature of time exist. In particular, the 'problem of time’ refers to the apparent impossibility of reconciling time as a background parameter of the quantum state with the dynamical concept of time used in relativity theory. The arrow of time in quantum processes does not always appear to be directed towards the future, or in any unique direction whatsoever. These puzzles bear upon many fast-moving fields in physics, including the race for a theory of quantum gravity, temporal correlations and the theory of measurement.
This Special Issue aims to bring together physicists and philosophers of physics to address all aspects of time in quantum mechanics, including, but not limited to, the following areas: The existence of a time operator in quantum theory, energy–time uncertainty relations, retrocausality, the quantum arrow of time, tunneling times, traversal times in quantum transport, quantum stochastic processes, quantum events, time in quantum gravity, multiple-time quantum mechanics, the two-state vector formalism, the transactional interpretation, timeless quantum theory and the Page–Wootters approach, quantum clocks, quantum reference frames, the persistence of quantum objects through time, presentism vs. eternalism in quantum mechanics, and determinism vs. objective chance.
Dr. Michael Ridley
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- quantum time
- quantum gravity
- time operator
- retrocausality
- quantum clocks
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