corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. D » Volume 27 » Issue 12
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. D 27, 2885–2892 (1983)

Evolution without evolution: Dynamics described by stationary observables

Download: PDF (263 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

Don N. Page* and William K. Wootters†
Center for Theoretical Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712

Received 17 June 1982; published in the issue dated 15 June 1983

Because the time parameter in the Schrödinger equation is not observable, energy apparently obeys a superselection rule in the same sense that charge does. That is, observables must all commute with the Hamiltonian and hence be stationary. This means that it is consistent with all observations to assume that any closed system such as the Universe is in a stationary state. We show how the observed dynamic evolution of a system can be described entirely in terms of stationary observables as a dependence upon internal clock readings.

© 1983 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.27.2885
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevD.27.2885
PACS:

*Permanent address: Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802.

†Present address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts 01267.

 
< Previous Article | Next Article >