Quantum Entities and the Nature of Time

Abstract

The conceptual statute of modern quantum theory was formulated during the 5th Solvay Conference in 1927 and since then accepted as definitive, although criticisms and discussions have continued up to the present. The more properly physical aspects of the debate seem to concern the relationship between quantum entities and spacetime. A historical circumstance that should not be ignored is that in 1927 the exploration of the realm of the fundamental constituents of matter (the so-called "elementary particles") was just in its infancy, and therefore the properties of these constituents could not play a constitutive role in the theory. Here we propose to re-read the nature of quantum entities starting from the peculiar relationship that the elementary particles that constitute them maintain with the spatial domain. In particular, it is assumed that this relationship is mediated by time and that the time accessible to elementary particles (but not to the systems they compose) is a complex variable rather than a real one. This approach helps to dissolve much of the "mystery" surrounding quantum phenomena.