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 about us 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 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.
FREE Two-Day Shipping for Students. Learn more |
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- Buy $50 in qualifying physical textbooks, get $5 in Amazon MP3 Credit. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
"...a veritable fireworks of ideas in computation, physics and cosmology. Some of the discussion is also recorded, and this adds considerably to the reader's understanding and enjoyment of the book....The distinction of the participants and the intrinsic interest of the topics discussed make this a book that should be available to all physicists as well as to students of cognate subjects." Peter T. Landsberg, Nature
"...[provides] an in-depth introduction to a fascinating set of inter-related topics about the nature of time. It is written at a level that is sure to be stimulating to a sophisticated theorist while still accessible to a young graduate student." Gino Segre, Physics Today
"...sure to plant the seeds for further lines of investigation on this intriguing and very fundamental set of issues." Robert Waid, Foundations of Physics
"...[provides] an in-depth introduction to a fascinating set of inter-related topics about the nature of time. It is written at a level that is sure to be stimulating to a sophisticated theorist while still accessible to a young graduate student." Gino Segre, Physics Today
"...sure to plant the seeds for further lines of investigation on this intriguing and very fundamental set of issues." Robert Waid, Foundations of Physics
Book Description
We say that the processes going on in the world about us 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. This volume reconciles these profoundly conflicting facts.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet.
|
|||
|
Video reviews
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
How come time? It is not enough to joke that "Time is nature's way to keep everything from happening all at once. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
strong thermodynamic arrow, evolved sheet, statistical entropy relative, observed time asymmetries, erasure cost, decoherence functional, final density matrices, predictability sieve, cosmological particle creation, conditional algorithmic information, probability sum rules, low entropy initial state, generalized quantum mechanics, perturbed sheets, approximate decoherence, decohering sets, quasiclassical domain, decoherence timescale, slow growth law, thermodynamical arrow, time asymmetry, pure initial state, particle creation processes, connected wormholes, preferred observables Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, World Scientific, Cambridge University Press, Los Alamos, Nuclear Physics, Redwood City, University of California Press, Murray Gell-Mann, Physics Letters, Physics Today, Princeton University Press, Addison Wesley, Physical Society of Japan, Bayesian Networks, Canadian Conference, Enrico Fermi, National Science Foundation, New Jersey, North Holland, Pergamon Press, Claudio Teitelboim, International Symposium, Light of New Technology, Oxford University Press, Robert Griffiths New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
How come time? It is not enough to joke that "Time is nature's way to keep everything from happening all at once. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
strong thermodynamic arrow, evolved sheet, statistical entropy relative, observed time asymmetries, erasure cost, decoherence functional, final density matrices, predictability sieve, cosmological particle creation, conditional algorithmic information, probability sum rules, low entropy initial state, generalized quantum mechanics, perturbed sheets, approximate decoherence, decohering sets, quasiclassical domain, decoherence timescale, slow growth law, thermodynamical arrow, time asymmetry, pure initial state, particle creation processes, connected wormholes, preferred observables Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, World Scientific, Cambridge University Press, Los Alamos, Nuclear Physics, Redwood City, University of California Press, Murray Gell-Mann, Physics Letters, Physics Today, Princeton University Press, Addison Wesley, Physical Society of Japan, Bayesian Networks, Canadian Conference, Enrico Fermi, National Science Foundation, New Jersey, North Holland, Pergamon Press, Claudio Teitelboim, International Symposium, Light of New Technology, Oxford University Press, Robert Griffiths New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
See all 100 books this book cites
44
books
cite this book:
See all 44 books citing this book
- Complexity, Entropy and the Physics of Information by Wojciech H. Zurek on 9 pages
- The Direction of Time (Dover Books on Physics) by Hans Reichenbach on 7 pages
- The Physical Basis of The Direction of Time by H. Dieter Zeh on 6 pages
- Physics of Time Asymmetry (Campus, 334) by P. C. W. Davies on 6 pages
- Quantum Cosmology and Baby Universes: Proceedings by S. Coleman on 6 pages
See all 100 books this book cites
- Maxwell's Demon 2: Entropy, Classical and Quantum Information, Computing by Harvey Leff on 5 pages
- Directions in General Relativity: Volume 2: Proceedings of the 1993 International Symposium, Maryland: Papers in Honor of Dieter Brill by B. L. Hu on page 26, page 288, and page 289
- The Physics of Communication: Proceedings of the Xxii Solvay Conference on Physics Delphi Lamia, Greece 24 - 29 November 2001 by I. Antoniou on page 136, page 216, and page 217
- Science and Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory, Cosmology, and Complexity by John D. Barrow on page 120, page 399, and page 400
- Open Systems and Measurement in Relativistic Quantum Theory: Proceedings of the Workshop held at the Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici, Napoli, April 3-4, 1998 (Lecture Notes in Physics) by Heinz-Peter Breuer on page 168, and page 193
See all 44 books citing this book
Books on Related Topics
(learn more)
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
