Distinguishing between evidence and its explanations in the steering of atomic clocks
- Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
- 82 Powers Road, Concord, MA 01742 (United States)
Quantum theory reflects within itself a separation of evidence from explanations. This separation leads to a known proof that: (1) no wave function can be determined uniquely by evidence, and (2) any chosen wave function requires a guess reaching beyond logic to things unforeseeable. Chosen wave functions are encoded into computer-mediated feedback essential to atomic clocks, including clocks that step computers through their phases of computation and clocks in space vehicles that supply evidence of signal propagation explained by hypotheses of spacetimes with metric tensor fields. The propagation of logical symbols from one computer to another requires a shared rhythm—like a bucket brigade. Here we show how hypothesized metric tensors, dependent on guesswork, take part in the logical synchronization by which clocks are steered in rate and position toward aiming points that satisfy phase constraints, thereby linking the physics of signal propagation with the sharing of logical symbols among computers. Recognizing the dependence of the phasing of symbol arrivals on guesses about signal propagation transports logical synchronization from the engineering of digital communications to a discipline essential to physics. Within this discipline we begin to explore questions invisible under any concept of time that fails to acknowledge unforeseeable events. In particular, variation of spacetime curvature is shown to limit the bit rate of logical communication. - Highlights: • Atomic clocks are steered in frequency toward an aiming point. • The aiming point depends on a chosen wave function. • No evidence alone can determine the wave function. • The unknowability of the wave function has implications for spacetime curvature. • Variability in spacetime curvature limits the bit rate of communications.
- OSTI ID:
- 22403425
- Journal Information:
- Annals of Physics (New York), Vol. 350; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2014 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-4916
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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