Time : towards a consistent theory
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Time : towards a consistent theory
(Fundamental theories of physics, v. 65)
Kluwer Academic Publishers, c1994
- : alk. paper
Available at 19 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Is time, even locally, like the real line? Multiple structures of time, implicit in physics, create a consistency problem. A tilt in the arrow of time is suggested as the most conservative hypothesis which provides approximate consistency within physics and with topology of mundane time.
Mathematically, the assumed constancy of the velocity of light (needed to measure time) implies functional differential equations of motion, that have both retarded and advanced deviating arguments with the hypothesis of a tilt. The novel features of such equations lead to a nontrivial structure of time and quantum-mechanical behaviour. The entire argument is embedded in a pedagogical exposition which amplifies, corrects, and questions the conventionally accepted approach. The exposition includes historical details and explains, for instance, why the entropy law is inadequate for time asymmetry, and why notions such as time asymmetry (hence causality) may be conceptually inadequate.
The first three parts of the book are especially suited as supplementary reading material for undergraduate and graduate students and teachers of physics. The new ideas are addressed to researchers in physics and philosophy of science concerned with relativity and the interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Table of Contents
Preface. Introduction. Part A: Preliminary Paradoxes and Puzzles. I. Philosophical Time. Part B: The Measurement of Time. II. Newton's Time. IIIA. The Michelson-Morley Experiment. IIIB. Einstein's Time. Part C: The Arrow of Time. IV. Thermodynamic Time. VA. The Electromagnetic Field. VB. Electromagnetic Time. Part D: The Topology of Time. VIA. Bell and Non-Locality. VIB. Quantum-Mechanical Time. VII. Cosmological Time. Part E: Towards a Consistent Model of Time. VIII. Mundane Time. Notes and References. Index.
by "Nielsen BookData"