Related papers: Biocosmology: Towards the birth of a new science
A dynamical estimate is given for the Boltzmann entropy of the Universe, under the simplifying assumptions provided by Newtonian cosmology. We first model the cosmological fluid as the probability fluid of a quantum-mechanical system. Next,…
The entropy of the observable universe is increasing. Thus, at earlier times the entropy was lower. However, the cosmic microwave background radiation reveals an apparently high entropy universe close to thermal and chemical equilibrium. A…
In the context of a homogeneous universe, we note that the appearance of aggressively expanding advanced life is geometrically similar to the process of nucleation and bubble growth in a first-order cosmological phase transition. We exploit…
Inflationary cosmology explains the homogeneity and large-scale structure of the universe through a brief epoch of accelerated expansion following the Big Bang. Cyclic cosmologies, in contrast, describe a universe undergoing successive…
Cosmology is investigated within a new, scalar theory of gravitation, which is a preferred-frame bimetric theory with flat background metric. Before coming to cosmology, the motivation for an " ether theory " is exposed at length; the…
We develop a unified, dynamical-systems narrative of the universe that traces a continuous chain of structure formation from the Big Bang to contemporary human societies and their artificial learning systems. Rather than treating cosmology,…
In statistical mechanics, measuring the number of available states and their probabilities, and thus the system's entropy, enables the prediction of the macroscopic properties of a physical system at equilibrium. This predictive capacity…
The claim that life is an emergent phenomenon exhibiting novel properties and principles is often criticized for being in conflict with causal closure at the microscopic level. I argue that advances in cosmological theory suggesting an…
We describe a thought experiment using an isolated system of known parameters and assuming the correctness of Clausius and Boltzmann descriptions of entropy. The experiment produced an astronomical increase in the number of possible ways…
We develop new modified cosmological scenarios by applying the first law of thermodynamics at the Universe horizon, utilizing a new entropic functional that generalizes the standard Boltzmann-Gibbs-Shannon entropy. In particular, starting…
According to statistical mechanics, micro-states of an isolated physical system (say, a gas in a box) at time $t_0$ in a given macro-state of less-than-maximal entropy typically evolve in such a way that the entropy at time $t$ increases…
The universal validity of the second law of thermodynamics is widely attributed to a finely tuned initial condition of the universe. This creates a problem: why is the universe atypical? We suggest that the problem is an artefact created by…
Biological systems reach organizational complexity that far exceeds the complexity of any known inanimate objects. Biological entities undoubtedly obey the laws of quantum physics and statistical mechanics. However, is modern physics…
We analyze cosmology assuming unitary quantum mechanics, using a tripartite partition into system, observer and environment degrees of freedom. This generalizes the second law of thermodynamics to "The system's entropy can't decrease unless…
Bouncing cosmologies are often proposed as alternatives to standard inflation for the explanation of the homogeneity and flatness of the universe. In such scenarios, the present cosmological expansion is preceded by a contraction phase.…
The transformation of organic molecules into the simplest self-replicating living system,a microorganism, is accomplished from a unique event or rare events that occurred early in the Universe. The subsequent dispersal on cosmic scales and…
For several independent reasons, the idea that notorious sources of entropy could exist in the Universe has been recently revived. Taking advantage of a new framework accounting for non-equilibrium processes in cosmology, we explicitly…
We consider quantum decoherence and entropy increase in early universe cosmology. We first study decoherence in a discrete bipartite quantum system for which a single qubit gets entangled with an environment and the entropy increase is…
Inflation has been the leading early universe scenario for two decades, and has become an accepted element of the successful `cosmic concordance' model. However, there are many puzzling features of the resulting theory. It requires both…
It is fair to say that the deepest mystery in our understanding of nature is the birth of our universe. Much of the dilemma over the last decades comes from the extraordinarily small probability that the universe started with the high…