One-electron Universe

[MarkE]

Who supports the idea that a positron is simply an electron going the other direction in time?

According to this PBS Space Time video (at 5:50 minutes), “antimatter is time reversed matter”. Does everybody here unanimously agree with that? Why (not)?

Edited July 31, 2018 by MarkE

[swansont]

There is a difference between what it is, and how it can be modeled. Antimatter indeed behaves like regular matter traveling backward in time, and there are situations where that idea can be useful. Feynman diagrams, for instance.

 

[Silvestru]

1 hour ago, MarkE said:

Who supports the idea that a positron is simply an electron going the other direction in time?

According to this PBS Space Time video (at 5:50 minutes), “antimatter is time reversed matter”. Does everybody here unanimously agree with that? Why (not)?

Hello MarkE, 

Don't limit yourself to youtube. If you want to find know more about this(Second Link) and also have some background (First Link) the two papers below will surely help. (I am currently going through the second one myself.)

http://web.ihep.su/dbserv/compas/src/feynman48c/eng.pdf       - Space-Time Approach to Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics R.P. Feynman

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1367-2630/14/9/095012/pdf  - Matter and antimatter in the universe

I really lack the knowledge and confidence right now to really agree or disagree with your post but I will leave a statement that I came across that:  "physics is not time-reversal invariant."

Edited July 31, 2018 by Silvestru

[MarkE]

18 minutes ago, Silvestru said:

Hello MarkE, 

Don't limit yourself to youtube. If you want to find know more about this(Second Link) and also have some background (First Link) the two papers below will surely help. (I am currently going through the second one myself.)

http://web.ihep.su/dbserv/compas/src/feynman48c/eng.pdf       - Space-Time Approach to Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics R.P. Feynman

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1367-2630/14/9/095012/pdf  - Matter and antimatter in the universe

I really lack the knowledge and confidence right now to really agree or disagree with your post but I will leave a statement that I came across that:  "physics is not time-reversal invariant."

Thanks! These papers are too mathematical for me, but I appreciate your references to them anyway. 

1 hour ago, swansont said:

There is a difference between what it is, and how it can be modeled. Antimatter indeed behaves like regular matter traveling backward in time, and there are situations where that idea can be useful. Feynman diagrams, for instance.

So even though it can be modeled this way, it doesn't necessarily have to tell us anything about reality?

Edited July 31, 2018 by MarkE

[swansont]

1 hour ago, MarkE said:

 So even though it can be modeled this way, it doesn't necessarily have to tell us anything about reality?

No. Much of physics that is not directly observable is this way, especially once you get into quantum mechanics.

[Strange]

4 hours ago, MarkE said:

So even though it can be modeled this way, it doesn't necessarily have to tell us anything about reality?

It is not obvious that any science tells us anything about "reality" (whatever that is, if it even exists).

 

[MarkE]

I'm interested in who supports this idea, and who doesn't, and why. Do we have more arguments in favour of this hypothesis than arguments against it?

Edited August 1, 2018 by MarkE

[Strange]

35 minutes ago, MarkE said:

I'm interested in who are supporting this idea, and who don't (and why). Do we have arguments in favour of this hypothesis, and (more?) arguments against it?

Can you explain the connection between the thread title and the question in the OP?

OK. Never mind, the Wikipedia article explains the connection: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-electron_universe

I wonder if there is any way of testing this, or if it is just an interpretation. (I guess the latter, in which case you can accept if it appeals to you or not if it doesn't.)

Edited August 1, 2018 by Strange