Is Time Quantized? | Scientific American

In summary, the conversation is about the concept of time being quantized. The article discussed is from Scientific American and focuses on the research of William G. Tifft, a professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona. His theory of redshift periodicity was initially popular but was later disproven by larger redshift surveys. Other studies also debunked his theory, but some still defend it. Overall, the consensus is that the idea of quantized redshift is not valid.
  • #1
CaptDude
29
9
Is time quantized? I just read an interesting article in scientific american about this subject. The following link should take you there. The most interesting part was about research done by William G. Tifft, a professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona. I was wondering what others think about his work.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-time-quantized-in-othe/
 
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  • #2
Tifft is 'credited' with first raising the prospect of redshift periodicity in 1973. It resonated with the non-traditional cosmology crowd inspiring a flurry of papers. These early studies were, however, based on small sample sizes and evidence of periodicity rapidly evaporated when large redshift surveys started appearing. Hawkins was probably the first to cast a stone with http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0208117, No Periodicities in 2dF Redshift Survey Data. Tang flung another dagger into the heart of the beast with http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0506366, Critical Examinations of QSO Redshift Periodicities and Associations with Galaxies in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data. These sobering studies were assailed, but not defeated, by minions of the dark side. The current consensus is quantized redshift was a dead horse before it was ever beaten. Personally, I think Tiift was a mainstream kind of guy who floundered into the fetid backwaters of cosmolgy.
 
  • #3
The comments below by phayez are hilarious...

as for the quantized redshifts, I never heard of it...
 
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Likes Drakkith

1. What is time quantization?

Time quantization is the idea that time may not be continuously flowing, but instead may be broken into discrete, indivisible units. This means that time would not be able to flow in infinitely small increments, but would instead jump from one unit to the next.

2. How is time quantization related to quantum mechanics?

Quantum mechanics is the branch of physics that deals with the behavior of matter and energy at a very small scale. Time quantization is a concept that arises from quantum mechanics, as it suggests that time may behave in a quantized manner at the smallest scales of the universe.

3. What evidence is there for time quantization?

Currently, there is no definitive evidence for time quantization. Some theories, such as loop quantum gravity, suggest that time may be quantized at the smallest scales, but this has not been proven experimentally. However, there are some phenomena, such as the discrete nature of certain physical processes, that could potentially be explained by time quantization.

4. Does time quantization have any practical implications?

If time were quantized, it could have implications for our understanding of the universe, including how it began and how it may end. It could also potentially impact our understanding of space-time and the behavior of matter and energy. However, at this point, these are all theoretical implications and have not been fully explored or understood.

5. How does time quantization relate to the concept of the Planck time?

The Planck time is the smallest unit of time that has any physical meaning, and it is related to the Planck length, which is the smallest unit of length. Some theories suggest that time may be quantized at the Planck time scale, meaning that it cannot be divided into any smaller units. However, this is still a matter of debate and has not been confirmed by empirical evidence.

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