  We propose the idea that time evolution of quantum systems is driven by work.
The formalism presented here falls within the scope of a recently proposed
theory of gravitating quantum matter where extractible work, and not energy, is
responsible for gravitation. Our main assumption is that extractible work, and
not the Hamiltonian, dictates dynamics. We find that expectation values of
meaningful quantities, such as the occupation number, deviate from those
predicted by standard quantum mechanics. The scope, applications and validity
of this proposal are also discussed.
