Physical Origins of Time Asymmetry

In the world about us, the past is distinctly different from the future. More precisely, we say that the processes going on in the world are asymmetric in time, or display an arrow of time. Yet this manifest fact of our experience is particularly difficult to explain in terms of the fundamental laws of physics. Newton's laws, quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, Einstein's theory of gravity, etc., make no distinction between the past and future - they are time-symmetric. Reconciliation of these profoundly conflicting facts is the topic of this volume. It is an interdisciplinary survey of the variety of interconnected phenomena defining arrows of time, and their possible explanations in terms of underlying time-symmetric laws of physics.

Year

1996

Language

English

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Editions

1

Pages

536

ISBN

9780521568371

Data source: Wikidata