Paper detail

Probabilistic time

The concept of time emerges as an ordering structure in a classical statistical ensemble. Probability distributions $p_τ(t)$ at a given time $t$ obtain by integrating out the past and future. We discuss all-time probability distributions that realize a unitary time evolution as described by rotations of the real wave function $q_τ(t)=\pm \sqrt{p_τ(t)}$. We establish a map to quantum physics and the Schrödinger equation. Suitable classical observables are mapped to quantum operators. The non-commutativity of the operator product is traced back to the incomplete statistics of the local-time subsystem. Our investigation of classical statistics is based on two-level observables that take the values one or zero. Then the wave functions can be mapped to elements of a Grassmann algebra. Quantum field theories for fermions arise naturally from our formulation of probabilistic time.