Related papers: Time's Arrow and Self-Locating Probability
Cosmic inflation claims to make the initial conditions of the standard big bang "generic". But Boltzmann taught us that the thermodynamic arrow of time arises from very non-generic ("low entropy") initial conditions. I discuss how to…
A longstanding issue in attempts to understand the Everett (Many-Worlds) approach to quantum mechanics is the origin of the Born rule: why is the probability given by the square of the amplitude? Following Vaidman, we note that observers…
Emergence of one-time-direction macroscopic evolution of a classical system of two mixed gases having different temperatures is derived and explained. The analysis performed at the microscopic level, where the time-symmetric laws of…
Depending on the type and arrangement of metastable vacua in the theory, initial conditions in a de Sitter vacuum with arbitrarily large entropy can be compatible with the observed arrow of time, if the causal patch or related measures are…
We clarify and strengthen our demonstration that arrows of time necessarily arise in unconfined systems. Contrary to a recent claim, this does not require an improbable selection principle.
The observed probabilities of quantum mechanics possess a time asymmetry which is based on the truism that a state must be prepared before an observable can be measured in it. While Hilbert space quantum theory cannot incorporate this arrow…
The arrow of time and the accelerated expansion are two fundamental empirical facts of the Universe. We advance the viewpoint that the dark energy (positive cosmological constant) accelerating the expansion of the Universe also supports the…
I examine two cosmological scenarios in which the thermodynamic arrow of time points in opposite directions in the asymptotic past and future. The first scenario, suggested by Aguirre and Gratton, assumes that the two asymptotic regions are…
We consider how to tell the time-ordering associated with measurement data from quantum experiments at two times and any number of qubits. We define an arrow of time inference problem. We consider conditions on the initial and final states…
Time-arrow $s=+/-$, intrinsic to a concrete physical system, is associated with the direction of information loss $\Delta I$ displayed by the random evolution of the given system. When the information loss tends to zero the intrinsic…
The recent surge of interest in the origin of the temporal asymmetry of thermodynamical systems (including the accessible part of the universe itself) put forward two possible explanatory approaches to this age-old problem. Hereby we show…
There is something missing in our understanding of the origin of the seeds of Cosmic Structuture. The fact that the fluctuation spectrum can be extracted from the inflationary scenario through an analysis that involves quantum field theory…
Quantum cosmology offers a unique stage to address questions of time related to its underlying (and perhaps truly quantum dynamical) meaning as well as its origin. Some of these issues can be analyzed with a general scheme of quantum…
Philosophers now seem to agree that frequentism is an untenable strategy to explain the meaning of probabilities. Nevertheless, I want to revive frequentism, and I will do so by grounding probabilities on typicality in the same way as the…
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…
In a recent paper, S. Gao has claimed that, under the assumption that the initial state of the universe is a pure quantum state, only the many worlds interpretation can account for the observed arrow of time. We show that his argument is…
One of the basic assumptions underlying Bell's theorem is the causal arrow of time, having to do with temporal order rather than spatial separation. Nonetheless, the physical assumptions regarding causality are seldom studied in this…
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…
In both thermodynamics and quantum mechanics the arrow of time is characterized by the statistical likelihood of physical processes. We characterize this arrow of time for the continuous quantum measurement dynamics of a superconducting…
Cosmological boundary conditions for particles and fields are often discussed as a Cauchy problem, in which configurations and conjugate momenta are specified on an "initial" time slice. But this is not the only way to specify boundary…