Related papers: Janus Points and Arrows of Time
In the joint paper "Bridging the neuroscience and physics of time" Rovelli, as the physicist coauthor of neuroscientist Dean Buonomano, makes statements that rely on theoretical frameworks employed when the laws of thermodynamics and…
We show that the evidence for a local arrow of time, which is equivalent to the entropy production in thermodynamic systems, can be decomposed. In a system with many degrees of freedom, there is a term that arises from the irreversible…
There is an incompatibility between the symmetries of causal structure in relativity theory and the signaling abilities of probabilistic devices with inputs and outputs: while time-reversal in relativity will not introduce the ability to…
We consider continuous-time consensus systems whose interactions satisfy a form or reciprocity that is not instantaneous, but happens over time. We show that these systems have certain desirable properties: They always converge…
Despite the fact that the fundamental physical laws are symmetric in time, most observed processes do not show this symmetry. Especially the phenomenon of decay seems to involve a kind of irreversibility that makes the definition of a…
I address the question whether the origin of the observed arrow of time can be derived from quantum cosmology. After a general discussion of entropy in cosmology and some numerical estimates, I give a brief introduction into quantum…
Time-like linear dilaton triggers, at the classical level, the creation of closed folded strings at an instant. We show that in cosmology these instant folded strings induce negative pressure at no energy cost. Hence they seem to allow an…
Time-asymmetric spacetime structures, in particular those representing black holes and the expansion of the universe, are intimately related to other arrows of time, such as the second law and the retardation of radiation. The nature of the…
Time can be defined as the duration between events. It is irreversible. When used as a variable in quantifying the changing properties of matter, this irreversibility of time is incompatible with Newton's deterministic mechanics and with…
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.…
Reasoning about unpredicted change consists in explaining observations by events; we propose here an approach for explaining time-stamped observations by surprises, which are simple events consisting in the change of the truth value of a…
This paper tackles the problem of the existence of solutions for recursive systems of Horn clauses with second-order variables interpreted as integer relations, and harnessed by quantifier-free difference bounds arithmetic. We start by…
Continuous and discrete time systems possessing strange non-chaotic attractors are under investigation. It is demonstrated that unpredictable trajectories exist in the dynamics. A recent numerical technique, the sequential test, is utilized…
In [Sch05a], it is argued that Boltzmann's intuition, that the psychological arrow of time is necessarily aligned with the thermodynamic arrow, is correct. Schulman gives an explicit physical mechanism for this connection, based on the…
Conceptual problems regarding the arrow of time in classical physics, quantum physics, cosmology, and quantum gravity are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the dynamical role of the quantum indeterminism, and to various concepts of…
A clear explanation is given on how the causal, psychological, and electrodynamic time arrows emerge from the thermodynamic time arrow.
The well-defined but intricate course of time evolution exhibited by many naturally occurring phenomena suggests some source of dynamic order sustaining it. In spite of its obviousness as a problem, it has remained absent from the…
A model in which two weakly coupled systems maintain opposite running thermodynamic arrows of time is exhibited. Each experiences its own retarded electromagnetic interaction and can be seen by the other. The possibility of opposite-arrow…
We demonstrate that the cosmological arrow of time is the cause for the arrow of time associated with the retarded radiation. This implies that the proposed mathematical model serves to confirm the hypothesis of Gold and Wheeler that the…
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…