The Arrow of Time
From Local Systems to the Whole Universe
Published on 30. October 2025
Book
Hardback
316 pages
978-1-009-58157-8 (ISBN)
Description
The 'arrow of time,' a concept first introduced by Sir Arthur Eddington, reflects the one-way flow of time and its association with various physical asymmetries in thermodynamics, cosmology, quantum mechanics, field theories, and beyond. Yet, the foundations of the arrow of time continues to challenge physicists and philosophers, having profound implications across multiple theories and disciplines.This volume compiles insights from the international colloquium 'The Arrow of Time: From Local Systems to the Whole Univers' held in Buenos Aires in 2023. It explores diverse perspectives on the arrow of time in thermodynamics, quantum mechanics and cosmology, its relation to counterfactual reasoning, free will and the growing-block universe, the interplay between consciousness and time, and the implications of time-reversal invariance. Collectively, these contributions provide a rigorous and comprehensive analysis of the enduring enigma of time's unidirectional nature.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 250 mm
Width: 175 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
727 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-009-58157-8 (9781009581578)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Content
List of contributors; Preface; Introduction; Part I. Local Systems: 1. The direction of time: from the cosmos to local systems David Albert; 2. Thermodynamics with and without irreversibility David Wallace; 3. Thermodynamics without time Francesca Vidotto; Part II. The Arrow of Time and Philosophical Issues: 4. Explaining the psychological arrow of time in time-symmetric physics Meir Hemmo and Orly Shenker; 5. The consequence argument meets the mentaculus Barry Loewer; 6. 'Freedom from inside out'. Revisited Carl Hoefer; 7. The arrow of time is alive and well but forbidden under the received view in physics Ruth E. Kastner; Part III. The Arrow of Time and Time-Reversal Invariance: 8. Time for pancakes: ontology and time reversal Valia Allori; 9. Insights into quantum time reversal from the classical Schroedinger equation Craig Callender; 10. Saving the appearances: the direction of time and time-reversal invariance Cristian Lopez; Part IV. The Whole Universe: 11. Following Earman's time direction heresy: from the global arrow of time to local irreversible processes Olimpia Lombardi; 12. The seeds of cosmic structure, the black hole information puzzle and the entropic arrow of time Daniel Sudarsky and Elias Okon; 13. Finding time for Wheeler-DeWitt cosmology Nick Huggett , Karim Thebault; Index.