The physics of symbols and the coin on edge: introducing two-clock physics

John M. Myers; F. Hadi Madjid

doi:10.1117/12.2519057

13 May 2019 The physics of symbols and the coin on edge: introducing two-clock physics

John M. Myers, F. Hadi Madjid

Proceedings Volume 10984, Quantum Information Science, Sensing, and Computation XI; 109840C (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2519057
Event: SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing, 2019, Baltimore, MD, United States

Abstract

The unexpected plays an important but little-understood role in physics. We are working to understand how the unexpected functions in theory and in experiment. This work leads to novel theoretical and instrumental structures of “two-clock physics”, with implications for the scientific method. The path to these structures that express the unexpected draws on three roots: 1. Physicists write strings of symbols. Quantum theory implies that physicists act as agents who make guesses, expressed as strings of symbols, in the face of unpredictability far more drastic than quantum uncertainty. Assimilating unpredictability as pervasive in theory and experiment opens new avenues to investigation. 2. No two clocks tick alike. We formulate a concept network of transmission of symbols among agents, without assuming any spacetime or any global time variable, but requiring that agents adjust local clock rates. This structure offers alternatives to time and distance adapted to a variety of cases and is an important element of what we call two-clock physics. 3. Sometimes a flipped coin lands on edge. Agents must rely on guesses to steer clock rates to achieve a logical synchronization that avoids confusion of one symbol with another.

Citation Download Citation

John M. Myers and F. Hadi Madjid "The physics of symbols and the coin on edge: introducing two-clock physics", Proc. SPIE 10984, Quantum Information Science, Sensing, and Computation XI, 109840C (13 May 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2519057

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