The Space-Time Description of Physics -Can it be Considered Complete?

摘要

Several theoretical results (regarding quantum gravity, state space, Hamiltonian mechanics) and experimental results (regarding the "immediate physical phenomena", namely phenomena that occur with an elapsed clock run equal to zero) suggest that the standard space-time manifold cannot be considered the fundamental arena of the universe. In this article, peculiar criterions of completeness and of physical reality of a stage of the universe are proposed. In virtue of these criterions, by taking into account the recent theoretical and experimental results, we show that the space-temporal description of physics cannot be considered complete and that a temporal dimension that flows as an independent variable cannot be considered as a physical reality. A timeless space where time exists only as a numerical order of material change can be considered as a more complete stage than the standard space-time arena. Clock/time intended as a system for measurements of the numerical order of material change satisfies in an appropriate and convincing way the criterion of physical reality.