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Related papers: On the statistical arrow of time

200 papers

Why does time appear to pass irreversibly? To investigate, we introduce a class of partitioned cellular automata (PCAs) whose cellwise evolution is based on the chaotic baker's map. After imposing a suitable initial condition and…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2022-08-15 Aram Ebtekar

It is a common belief that in any environment where life is possible, life will be generated. Here it is suggested that the cause for a spontaneous generation of complex systems is probability driven processes. Based on equilibrium…

Information Theory · Computer Science 2007-11-29 Oded Kafri

Recently, Carroll and Chen [hep-th/0410270] suggested a promising natural explanation of the thermodynamic arrow of time. However, we criticize their assertion that there exists a Cauchy hypersurface with a minimal entropy and argue that…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2007-05-23 H. Nikolic

The novelty of the Jean Pierre Badiali last scientific works stems to a quantum approach based on both (i) a return to the notion of trajectories (Feynman paths) and (ii) an irreversibility of the quantum transitions. These iconoclastic…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2017-10-05 P. Riot , A. Le Méhauté

We investigate the origin of the arrow of time in quantum mechanics in the context of quantum cosmology. The ``Copenhagen'' quantum mechanics of measured subsystems incorporates a fundamental arrow of time. Extending discussions of…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2009-09-25 Murray Gell-Mann , James B. Hartle

Our universe seems to be radiation dominated at early times, and vacuum energy dominated at late times. When we consider the maximal analytic extension of this spacetime, its symmetries and complex analytic properties suggest a picture in…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2021-09-15 Latham Boyle , Neil Turok

This (withdrawn) creative essay intended to consider the appearance of time's arrow in a fully symmetric universe compatible with "pilot wave" or transactional interpretations (D. Bohm or J.G. Kramer, respectively). The (unstated)…

Popular Physics · Physics 2015-03-31 Ryan S. Westafer

Recent discussions of the origins of the thermodynamical asymmetry ("the arrow of time") by Huw Price and others are critically assessed. This serves as a motivation for consideration of relationship between thermodynamical and cosmological…

Classical Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Milan M. Cirkovic , Vesna Milosevic-Zdjelar

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…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2012-07-30 H. D. Zeh

Time-asymmetric behavior as embodied in the second law of thermodynamics is observed in {\it individual macroscopic} systems. It can be understood as arising naturally from time-symmetric microscopic laws when account is taken of a) the…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2007-09-06 Joel L. Lebowitz

We argue that (1) our perception of time through change and (2) the gap between reality and our observation of it are at the heart of both quantum mechanics and the dynamical mechanism of physical systems. We suggest that the origin of…

General Physics · Physics 2014-07-15 Michael York

In a recent preprint [arXiv:2601.14134v1], Rubin argues that the arrow of time originates from the monotonic growth of the volume of extra dimensions. While the identification of a geometric origin for time's arrow is compelling in the case…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2026-01-28 Andrei Galiautdinov

Quantum mechanics is derived as an application of the method of maximum entropy. No appeal is made to any underlying classical action principle whether deterministic or stochastic. Instead, the basic assumption is that in addition to the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2011-05-09 Ariel Caticha

The paper puts forward a conceptual framework in which the phenomenon of time can be presented and discussed in a proper way. We argue that change is ontologically and epistemologically a more basic phenomenon than time. Time is an abstract…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2015-09-07 Mario Radovan

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…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2022-09-21 Christopher W. Lynn , Caroline M. Holmes , William Bialek , David J. Schwab

Microphysical laws are time reversible, but macrophysics, chemistry and biology are not. This chapter explores how this asymmetry (a classic example of a broken symmetry) arises due to the cosmological context, where a non-local Direction…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2020-03-18 George F R Ellis , Barbara Drossel

It is shown, that quantum theory with complex evolutionary time parameter and non-Hermitian Hamiltonian structure can be used for natural unification of quantum and thermodynamic principles. The theory is postulated as analytical in respect…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2007-05-23 Vadim V. Asadov , Oleg V. Kechkin

In statistical mechanics the zeroth law of thermodynamics is taken as a postulate which, as its name indicates, logically precedes the first and second laws. Treating it as a postulate has consequences for how temperature is introduced into…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2025-02-11 Kim Sharp

The essence of the second law of classical thermodynamics is the `entropy principle' which asserts the existence of an additive and extensive entropy function, S, that is defined for all equilibrium states of thermodynamic systems and whose…

Mathematical Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Elliott H. Lieb , Jakob Yngvason

There is a widespread assumption that the universe in general, and the Earth's biosphere in particular, is becoming more complex over time. This paper formulates this assumption as a macroscopic law, the law of increasing complexity, for a…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2026-03-02 Tatsuaki Okamoto