Quantum Mechanics and Discrete Time from “Timeless” Classical Dynamics

Abstract

We study classical Hamiltonian systems in which the intrinsic proper time evolution parameter is related through a probability distribution to the physical time, which is assumed to be discrete.

This is motivated by the “timeless” reparametrization invariant model of a relativistic particle with two compactified extra-dimensions. In this example, discrete physical time is constructed based on quasi-local observables.

Generally, employing the path-integral formulation of classical mechanics developed by Gozzi et al., we show that these deterministic classical systems can be naturally described as unitary quantum mechanical models. The emergent quantum Hamiltonian is derived from the underlying classical one. It is closely related to the Liouville operator. We demonstrate in several examples the necessity of regularization, in order to arrive at quantum models with bounded spectrum and stable ground state.