Time does not feature in the equations describing the world of elementary particles and in some border astrophysical conditions. There, there is time symmetry.
The world of the macro, on the other hand, is time asymmetric.
Time is, therefore, an epiphenomenon: it does not characterize the parts -- though it emerges as a main property of the whole, as an extensive parameter of macro systems.
In my doctoral dissertation (Ph.D. Thesis available on Microfiche in UMI and from the Library of Congress [ Ссылка ] ), I postulate the existence of a particle (chronon). Time is the result of the interaction of chronons, very much as other forces in nature are "transferred" in such interactions.
The Chronon is a time "atom" (actually, an elementary particle, a time "quark"). We can postulate the existence of various time quarks (up, down, colors, etc.) whose properties cancel each other (in pairs, etc.) and thus derive the time arrow (time asymmetry).
My postulated particle (chronon) is not only an ideal clock, but also mediates time itself (same like the relationship between the Higgs boson and mass.) In other words: I propose that what we call "time" is the interaction between chronons in a field. The field IS time itself. Chronons exchange between them a particle and thereby exert a force.
"Events" are perturbations in the Time Field and they are distinct from chronon interactions. Chronon interactions (=particle exchange) in the Time Field generate "time" (small t) and "time asymmetry" as we observe them.
My work is, therefore, a Field Theory of Time.
Future directions of research:
POSSIBILITY 1: Time as a wave function with observer-mediated collapse. Entanglement of all the chronons at the exact "moment" of the Big Bang. A relativistic QFT with chronons as Field Quanta (excited states.) The integration is achieved via the quantum superpositions.
POSSIBILITY 2: Metric expansion of time is implied if time is a fourth dimension of space.
POSSIBILITY 3: Time as a PHONON of the metric itself.
POSSIBILITY 4: Perturbative QFT. Time from the Big Bang mediated by chronons, which leads to expansion (including in the number of chronons.) No bound states.
Read "Upper Time Limit, Its Gradient Curvature, and Matter" by Eytan H. Suchard (Journal of Modern Physics and Applications 2014, 2014:5) [ Ссылка ]
Read "Absolute Maximum Proper Time to an Initial Event, the Curvature of Its Gradient along Conflict Strings and Matter" by Eytan H. Suchard (Journal of Modern Physics Vol.4 No.6 (2013), Article ID:33086) [ Ссылка ]
"Upper Time Limit, Its Gradient Curvature, and Matter" by Eytan H. Suchard [ Ссылка ]
Chronons (Wikipedia) [ Ссылка ]
Chronons (in Science Fiction) [ Ссылка ]
