Yasmineh, Salim
(2023)
Non-local Building Blocks of Spacetime.
[Preprint]
Abstract
Non-locality in the sense of non-separability is an experimental fact of quantum mechanics that seems to contradict the postulates of relativity. We aim to show that there is no real contradiction between quantum mechanics and relativity. Instead, they simply describe different levels of physical reality. We extrapolate from Schrodinger’s original proposal that a particle could be assimilated to a cloud-like entity, by suggesting that the particle is not an entity located in space-time, but an extended field-like entity that is an integral part of spacetime itself. Furthermore, we propose to describe the particle in terms of proper time rather than ordinary time. In fact the particle can be associated with a slice within a light cone in such a way that all its points are related to the same proper time. We will show that these extended entities are intrinsically non-local and that they are the substantival building blocks of ordinary spacetime. In this case locality in spacetime becomes an emergent property. It emerges from the combination of the various non-local entities. Quantum mechanics is mainly concerned with the intrinsically non-local structure of space-time, while the theory of relativity is concerned with the resultant or emergent spacetime. It should be emphasised that this paper does not propose a new theory, but simply a different way of looking at the structure of spacetime.
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