Augustine of Hippo's philosophy of time meets general relativity
Abstract
A cosmological model is proposed which uses a causality argument to solve the homogeneity and entropy problems of cosmology. In this model a chronology violating region of spacetime causally precedes the remainder of the Universe, and a theorem establishes the existence of time functions precisely outside the chronology violating region. This model is shown to nicely reproduce Augustine of Hippo's thought on time and the beginning of the Universe. In the model the spacelike boundary representing the Big Bang is replaced by a null hypersurface at which the gravitational degrees of freedom are almost frozen while the matter and radiation content is highly homogeneous and thermalized.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0909.3876,
title = {Augustine of Hippo's philosophy of time meets general relativity},
author = {E. Minguzzi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0909.3876},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
23 pages, 2 figures. Originally prepared for the FQXi contest "What's Ultimately Possible in Physics?" with the title "Can God find a place in physics? St. Augustine's philosophy meets general relativity". v3: with respect to the published version it includes a further appendix with the proof of Theorem 3.4