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The Physical Basis of the Direction of Time

  • Book
  • © 1989

Overview

Authors:
  1. H.-Dieter Zeh

    1. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Fed. Rep. of Germany

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-VIII
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  2. Introduction

    • H.-Dieter Zeh
    Pages 1-7

  3. The Physical Concept of Time

    • H.-Dieter Zeh
    Pages 8-11

  4. The Time Arrow of Radiation

    • H.-Dieter Zeh
    Pages 12-30

  5. The Thermodynamical Arrow of Time

    • H.-Dieter Zeh
    Pages 31-69

  6. The Quantum Mechanical Arrow of Time

    • H.-Dieter Zeh
    Pages 70-103

  7. The Time Arrow of Spacetime Structure and Cosmology

    • H.-Dieter Zeh
    Pages 104-133

  8. The Quantization of Time

    • H.-Dieter Zeh
    Pages 134-148

  9. Epilogue

    • H.-Dieter Zeh
    Pages 149-151

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 153-166
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Keywords

About this book

This book arose from a series of lectures which I gave at the University of Heidelberg during the summer terms of 1979,1982 and 1986. They led in 1984 the publication in German of Die Physik der Zeitrichtung, which appeared to as Vol. 200 of the Springer Lecture Notes in Physics. The present English version is not merely a translation of these notes, but has been widely revised and extended. The number of changes and additions roughly increases with chapter number. Chaps. 5 and 6 have been completely rewritten (except for Sect. 5. 1, which is a revised version of the former § 5. 2). The new title is intended to express the somewhat more ambitious program of this book as compared to its German predecessor. My interest in this subject stemmed originally from an attempt to place the quantum mechanical measurement process in its proper relation to other irreversible phenomena. It soon became evident that statistical thermody­ namics is too limited for the search for the common roots of the obviously related arrows of time. It is precisely the interconnectedness of many areas of physics, and not least their relation to some fundamental concepts (or per­ haps prejudices) of epistemology, which sustained my fascination with the subject of this book over many years. Thus it was not my intention to de­ scribe technicalities or mathematical problems, but to point out the essential physical ideas (which are often overlooked).

Reviews


FROM THE REVIEWS:

MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS
"The presentation is clear and readable. The book gives an excellent overview of the phenomena which characterize a direction of time like radiation, thermodynamics, quantum indeterminism and the structure of black holes.”

SCIENCE MAGAZINE
"…I recommend this book to those willing to devote serious effort to learning part of the subject.”

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICS
"…an excellent summary of what is known at present about this fascinating mystery.”

 

FROM THE REVIEWS:

ZENTRALBLATT MATH
"The book contains an impressive (we’d say exhaustive) list of references: almost 300 titles (papers and books)…We have to mention the high scientific value of the book, its rigorous well-documented discussion of the subject, refinement and subtlety of its reasonings. We strongly recommend it to students and specialists in various fields of theoretical physics.”

Authors and Affiliations

  • Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Fed. Rep. of Germany

    H.-Dieter Zeh

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