One-electron universe

The one-electron universe is the hypothesis that all electrons and positrons are actually manifestations of a single entity moving backwards and forwards in time. It was proposed by theoretical physicist John Wheeler in a telephone call to Richard Feynman in the spring of 1940. A similar "zigzag world line description of pair annihilation" was independently devised by E. C. G. Stueckelberg at the same time. Overview The idea is based on the world lines traced out across spacetime by every electron. Rather than have myriad such lines, Wheeler suggested that they could all be parts of one single line like a huge tangled knot, traced out by the one electron. Any given moment in time is represented by a slice across spacetime, and would meet the knotted line a great many times. Each such meeting point represents a real electron at that moment. At those points, half the lines will be directed forward in time and...