remarks on the compatibility of opposite arrows of time评价时间的兼容性相反的箭头.pdfVIP

Entropy 2005, 7[4], 199-207 Entropy ISSN 1099-4300 /entropy/ letter to the Editor Remarks on the Compatibility of Opposite Arrows of Time H. D. Zeh Universit¨at Heidelberg postal address: Gaiberger Str. 38, D69151 Waldhilsbach, Germany www.zeh-hd.de E-mail: zeh@urz.uni-heidelberg.de Received: 15 August 2005 / Accepted: 20 September 2005 / Published: 23 September 2005 Abstract: I argue that opposite arrows of time, while being logically possible, cannot realistically be assumed to exist during one and the same epoch of our universe. Keywords: time arrow, final conditions, solvable models, causality, retardation, cosmology, big crunch, black holes, quantum measurements, Wheeler-DeWitt equation. 199 Entropy 2005, 7[4], 199-207 200 1 Introduction If, according to the assumptions of statistical physics, the second law is regarded as a “fact” rather than a dynamical law, it could conceivably not hold at all, hold only occasionally, or even apply in varying directions of time. Larry Schulman has demonstrated very nicely and convincingly in several publications [1, 2, 3] how the latter possibility may occur in principle. The major remaining question then is whether his examples can be regarded as realistic in our universe. This comment was written in response to a review presented by Schulman during a conference on the “Direction of Time”, Bielefeld (2002), and posted as http://arX/physics/0306083. In particular, we may understand from Schulman’s examples how a certain time arrow depends on “improbable” (low entropy) initial or final conditions – regardless of the direction in which we perform ou