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In the understanding of the fundamental interactions, the origin of an arrow of time is viewed as problematic. However, quantum field theory has an arrow of causality, which tells us which time direction is the past lightcone and which is…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2020-10-15 John F. Donoghue , Gabriel Menezes

The puzzle of the thermodynamic arrow of time reduces to the question of how the universe could have had lower entropy in the past. I show that no special entropy lowering mechanism (or fluctuation) is necessary. As a consequence of…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2015-05-13 L. S. Schulman

This paper investigates the influence of extra dimensions on the nature of the arrow of time. We demonstrate that the observed arrow of time can be explained by the monotonic growth of the multidimensional manifold's volume. Unlike…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2026-02-03 Sergey G. Rubin

Time is a parameter playing a central role in our most fundamental modelling of natural laws. Relativity theory shows that the comparison of times measured by different clocks depends on their relative motion and on the strength of the…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2017-07-25 Hauret Clementine , Magain Pierre , Biernaux Judith

While the microscopic laws of physics are often symmetric under time reversal, most natural processes that we observe are not. The emergent asymmetry between typical and time-reversed processes is referred to as the arrow of time. In…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-12-23 Luis Pedro García-Pintos , Yi-Kai Liu , Alexey V. Gorshkov

Our observed Universe has a very strong arrow of time rooted in its low entropy starting point. This low entropy start can be related to various "tuning puzzles" about the early state of the Universe. Here we explore the relationship…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2022-12-28 Andreas Albrecht , Rose Baunach , Andrew Arrasmith

We discuss how quantum geometrodynamics, a conservative approach to quantum gravity, might explain the emergence of classical spacetime and, with it, the emergence of classical time and its arrow from the universal quantum state. This…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2024-11-19 Claus Kiefer , Leonardo Chataignier , Mritunjay Tyagi

We find ourselves in an extended era of entropy production. Unlike most other observations, the arrow of time is usually regarded as a constraint on initial conditions. I argue, however, that it primarily constrains the vacuum structure of…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2013-05-30 Raphael Bousso

We show that the arrow of time is intimately related to the geometry and topology of the whole universe, and is therefore best understood as a cosmological phenomenon.

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2025-12-11 Andrea Palessandro

The thermodynamic arrow-of-time problem is thought to be resolved by the observation that our universe initially was---and still is---far from equilibrium. The psychological arrow-of-time problem is often attributed the same resolution, but…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2018-12-19 Lucas Johns

Uncovering the origin of the arrow of time remains a fundamental scientific challenge. Within the framework of statistical physics, this problem was inextricably associated with the second law of thermodynamics, which declares that entropy…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-02-27 G. B. Lesovik , I. A. Sadovskyy , M. V. Suslov , A. V. Lebedev , V. M. Vinokur

A generalized framework is developed which uses a set description instead of wavefunction to emphasize the role of the observer. Such a framework is found to be very effective in the study of the measurement problem and time's arrow.…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Zhen Wang

It is shown that the structures in the universe can be interpreted to show a closed wheel of time, rather than a straight arrow. An analysis in $f(R)$ gravity model has been carried out to show that due to local observations a small arc at…

General Physics · Physics 2018-01-26 Bal Krishna Yadav , Murli Manohar Verma

It is generally believed that a cosmological arrow of time must be associated with entropy production. Indeed, in his seminal work on cyclic cosmology, Tolman introduced a viscous fluid in order to make successive expansion/contraction…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2018-10-26 Varun Sahni , Yuri Shtanov , Aleksey Toporensky

Scientists continue to wrestle with the enigma of time. Is time a dynamic or a fundamental property of spacetime? Why does it have an arrow pointing from past to future? Why are physical laws time-symmetric in a universe with broken…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2009-09-15 L. Mersini-Houghton

We derive the arrows of time of our universe that follow from the no-boundary theory of its quantum state (NBWF) in a minisuperspace model. Arrows of time are viewed four-dimensionally as properties of the four-dimensional Lorentzian…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2013-09-04 James Hartle , Thomas Hertog

In this paper we discuss the traditional approaches to the problem of the arrow of time. On the basis of this discussion we adopt a global and non-entropic approach, according to which the arrow of time has a global origin and is an…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2014-11-18 Mario Castagnino , Luis Lara , Olimpia Lombardi

Time is a parameter playing a central role in our most fundamental modeling of natural laws. Relativity theory shows that the comparison of times measured by different clocks depends on their relative motions and on the strength of the…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-11 Pierre Magain , Clémentine Hauret

It was previously argued that the phenomenon of quantum gravitational decoherence described by the Wheeler-DeWitt equation is responsible for the emergence of the arrow of time. Here we show that the characteristic spatio-temporal scales of…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2017-02-28 Dmitriy Podolskiy , Robert Lanza

This paper is a natural continuation of our previous paper arXiv:1011.4173 . We illustrated earlier that in classical Hamilton mechanics, for overwhelming majority of real chaotic macroscopic systems, alignment of their thermodynamic time…

General Physics · Physics 2013-07-15 Oleg Kupervasser