Time's Arrows Today
Recent Physical and Philosophical Work on the Direction of Time

Eleven essays which make original contributions toward the conundrum which is the 'Arrow of Time'.

Steven F. Savitt (Edited by)

9780521599450, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 June 1997

348 pages
24.7 x 17.5 x 1.9 cm, 0.705 kg

'I heartily recommend this collection to anyone, philosopher or scientist interested in the direction of time. Many of the papers make significant contributions to the field, and I found almost all of them quite interesting, I am confident this book will emerge as a standard text in the philosophy of time.' Craig Callender, Canadian Philosophical Reviews

While experience tells us that time flows from the past to the present and into the future, a number of philosophical and physical objections exist to this commonsense view of dynamic time. In an attempt to make sense of this conundrum, philosophers and physicists are forced to confront fascinating questions, such as: Can effects precede causes? Can one travel in time? Can the expansion of the Universe or the process of measurement in quantum mechanics define a direction in time? In this book, researchers from both physics and philosophy attempt to answer these issues in an interesting, yet rigorous way. This fascinating book will be of interest to physicists and philosophers of science and educated general readers interested in the direction of time.

Introduction
Part I. Cosmology and Time's Arrow: 1. Time, gravity, and quantum mechanics W. Unruh
2. Cosmology, time's arrow, and that old double standard H. Price
Part II. Quantum Theory and Time's Arrow: 3. Time's arrow and the quantum measurement problem A. Leggett
4. Time, decoherence, and 'reversible' measurements P. Stamp
5. Time flows, non-locality, and measurement in quantum mechanics S. McCall
6. Stochastically branching spacetime topology R. Douglas
Part III. Thermodynamics and Time's Arrow: 7. The elusive object of desire: in pursuit of the kinetic equations and the second law L. Sklar
8. Time in experience and in theoretical description of the world L. Sklar
9. When and why does entropy increase? M. Barrett and E. Sober
Part IV. Time Travel and Time's Arrow: 10. Closed causal chains P Horwich
11. Recent work on time travel J. Earman.

Subject Areas: Physics [PH]