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Mixing, tunnelling and the direction of time in the context of Reichenbach’s principles

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2019-20 MATRIX Annals

Part of the book series: MATRIX Book Series ((MXBS,volume 4))

Abstract

This work reviews the understanding of the direction of time introduced by Hans Reichenbach, including the fundamental relation of the perceived flow of time to the second law of thermodynamics (i.e. the Boltzmann time hypothesis), and the principle of parallelism of entropy increase. An example of a mixing process with quantum effects, which is advanced here in conjunction with Reichenbach’s ideas, indicates the existence of a physical mechanism that reflects global conditions prevailing in the universe and enacts the direction of time locally (i.e. the “time primer”). Generally, this mechanism, whose effects are often enacted by presuming antecedent causality, remains unknown at present. The possibility of experimental detection of the time primer is also discussed: if the time primer is CPT-invariant,its detection may be possible in high-energy experiments under the current level of technology.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks the Mathematical Research Institute MATRIX and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at The University of Western Australia for productive discussions and financial support. The author also appreciates fruitful discussion at the Centre for Time (The University of Sydney).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SoMME, The University of Queensland, St.Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Alexander Y. Klimenko

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  1. Alexander Y. Klimenko
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Correspondence to Alexander Y. Klimenko .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Jan de Gier

  2. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Western Australia, Melbourne, Australia

    Cheryl E. Praeger

  3. Department of Mathematics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Terence Tao

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Klimenko, A.Y. (2021). Mixing, tunnelling and the direction of time in the context of Reichenbach’s principles. In: de Gier, J., Praeger, C.E., Tao, T. (eds) 2019-20 MATRIX Annals. MATRIX Book Series, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62497-2_23

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