The assumption that time works the same way for everything doesn’t apply to anti-matter (Amjor,Jurkiewicz, & Loll, 2008) as when an anti-electron hits an electron, the Feynman diagram shows it enters the collision going backwards in time (Figure 4.8), though the logic is symmetric so to the anti-electron, the electron is going backwards in time. Yet despite time going backwards, both the electron and anti-electron are entering the interaction not leaving it, so reversing time doesn’t mean reversing causality.
Minkowski interpreted Einstein’s theory to mean that objects move faster or slower along a time dimension in a block theory of time, where every event that ever was or will be can be paged like a book (Barour,1999). Minkowski’s model has one time dimension so a particle going backwards in time reverses causality but the anti-matter particle in Figure 4.8 isn’t doing that. The anti-electron is entering the collision just as the electron does with no causal reversal, so Minkowski’s interpretation can’t explain how anti-matter time runs backwards. If time is an absolute dimension, to reverse time is to travel back in time and deny the causality behind all physics.
In quantum realism, time passes as quantum cycles complete and there is no space-time “canvas” upon which matter particles exist. Einstein’s conclusion, every object in the universe has its own “clock”, arises because every node on the quantum network runs at its own rate, which may vary.
If time passes as quantum cycles finish, a tick of matter time passes for every forward cycle but a tick of anti-matter time passes for every reverse cycle. Anti-matter then exists in anti-time as matter exists in time, except that for matter a forward cycle is a tick of its time and for anti-matter a reverse cycle is a tick of its time. To a matter being, anti-matter runs time in reverse but to an anti-matter being our matter is running time in reverse. Matter exists by processing while anti-matter exists by anti-processing, but in both cases their quantum cycles define their time.
That anti-matter runs time in reverse is only possible if time is virtual. It doesn’t mean that anti-matter reverses causality but that Feynman diagrams need dual time axes, one for matter time and one for anti-matter time. Anti-time is an alternate virtual time that exists because anti-matter processing is the reverse of matter processing. If processing creates time, not only does every entity in the universe have its own clock, it also decides its own clock direction.
If reality is virtual, can time rewind like an Internet browser has a Back button? But a browser back button can only undo your last act, it can’t undo interactions like online registrations as this must reverse both parties and with six degrees of separation, rolling back six events for one person could affect the entire web! To undo interactions one must roll-back the entire network and this is also true for the quantum network.
Anti-time doesn’t imply time reversal because a physical event is a reboot that can’t be undone. Anti-matter exists in anti-time between physical events but it can no more undo its physical interactions than matter can. A series of reboots can’t be reversed, rewound or fast-forwarded, whether by matter or anti-matter, so there is no time travel.