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arXiv · 0709.1892

Records Theory

Edward Anderson
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Abstract

In quantum gravity, one seeks to combine quantum mechanics and general relativity. In such attempts, one comes across the `problem of time' impasse: the notion of time is conceptually different in each of these theories. In this paper, I consider the timeless records approach toward resolving this. Records are localized, information-containing subconfigurations of a single instant. Records theory is the study of these and of how science (or history) is to be abstracted from correlations between them. I critically evaluate motivations for this approach that have previously appeared in the literature. I provide a ground-level structure for records theory and discuss what kind of further tools are needed, illustrated with some toy models: ordinary mechanics, relatonal particle dynamics, detector models and inhomogeneous perturbations about homogeneous cosmology.

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Edward Anderson. 2009-09-23. Records Theory. https://doi.org/10.1142/s0218271809014686

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