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David MillerMy interest in time is in relation to quantum physics. Quantum physics is very successful in predicting the measured properties of quantum systems (e.g. electrons, atoms, molecules). On one view, physics is not concerned with the unmeasured properties of quantum systems and it is questionable whether it is meaningful even to talk about them. On another view, physics should be concerned with describing an objective physical reality which includes the unmeasured properties of quantum systems. [Examples of the opposing views have been debated by R. Penrose and S. Hawking in S. Hawking and R. Penrose, The Nature of Space and Time (Princeton University Press, 1995) and in R. Penrose, The Large, the Small and the Human Mind (Cambridge University Press, 1997).] The "no-go" theorems discovered in quantum physics since the 1960's show that, if quantum systems have unmeasured properties, they must obey at least in some cases, different relationships from the relationships the measured properties obey. At present there is no theory of physics for the unmeasured properties. My interest is to develop a physical theory for the unmeasured properties which is consistent with conventional quantum physics in that it produces the same predictions for measured properties. It appears that the only approach which could work is a time-symmetric formulation of quantum physics in which the future and the past influence the present properties of a quantum system in a symmetrical way. This idea is counterintuitive, because of our subjective experience of a clear distinction between the future and the past, but there does not appear to be any objection in principle to the concept within physics itself. A preliminary formulation of a time-symmetric formulation is explained in the last 2 references below. The "contextuality and "non-locality" of quantum physics are natural consequences of the theory. Present research is concentrated on refining the theory and seeking a case where there is a testable difference between it and conventional quantum mechanics. Relevant publications D. J. Miller, 'Realism and time-symmetry in quantum mechanics', Phys. Lett. A 222, 31 (1996). D. J. Miller, 'Conditional probabilities in quantum mechanics from a time-symmetric formulation', Nuovo Cimento B 112, 1577 (1997). D. J. Miller, 'Quantum predictions without nonlocal projections', in Proc. Int. Symp. on Fundamental Problems in Quantum Physics, M. Ferrero and A. van der Merwe (eds.) (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1997), p. 259. D. J. Miller, 'A probability measure for real
properties', in Frontiers in Quantum Physics, S. C.
Lim, R. Abd-Shukor and K. W. Kwek (eds.) (Springer,
Singapore, 1998), p. 224.
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