- published: 06 Apr 2016
- views: 4891
A chronon is a proposed quantum of time, that is, a discrete and indivisible "unit" of time as part of a theory that proposes that time is not continuous. While time is a continuous quantity in both standard quantum mechanics and general relativity, many physicists have suggested that a discrete model of time might work, especially when considering the combination of quantum mechanics with general relativity to produce a theory of quantum gravity. The term was introduced in this sense by Robert Lévi.Henry Margenau suggested that the chronon might be the time for light to travel the classical radius of an electron. A quantum theory in which time is a quantum variable with a discrete spectrum, and which is nevertheless consistent with special relativity, was proposed by C. N. Yang.
One such model was introduced by Piero Caldirola in 1980. In Caldirola's model, one chronon corresponds to about 6.97×10−24
seconds for an electron. This is much longer than the Planck time, another proposed unit for the quantization of time, which is only about 5.39×10-44
seconds. The Planck time is a universal quantization of time itself, whereas the chronon is a quantization of the evolution in a system along its world line and consequently the value of the chronon, like other quantized observables in quantum mechanics, is a function of the system under consideration, particularly its boundary conditions. The value for the chronon, θ0, is calculated from:
I am what the heart can only discover
I bleed for you
And now nothing but a painful reminder
Can't feel for you
Lost in a predicament
Can't help but experiment
With the other
Anticipate for another time
Lost in the maze of my mind
But you don't
And yet you won't
I see all the pouring rain around me
Yet I don't feel a thing
In time realize
Don't bother to stop and think
That sometimes when you can't be right
Got to find time to change the mind of another
But if you think that you might want to be
Don't hesitate to contain
But you don't
And yet you won't
Bleed my hands are still
See your face and so I
Leave this all for you
Until I bleed my hands are still
See you face and so I
Leave this all for you, down again
It's all in the face
It's all in the face
It's all in the face
Don't walk away
See my lie
But if it's too cold then you'll understand next time
So what's your hand and what's your ace