Growth of Knowledge and Entropy in Quantum Physics

Abstract

Most attempts to argue for the second law of thermodynamics fail because (1) they use the unviable frequency theory of probability and (2) they do not explain why the arrow of time seen in experiments is aligned with the thermodynamic arrow of time. I use the decision theoretic interpretation of quantum probability from the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics to solve the probability problem. I then derive a correlation between the knowledge arrow of time and the entropy arrow of time using physical constraints on knowledge creation imposed by Popper's evolutionary theory of knowledge and the many worlds interpretation.

35 pages

References in corpus (7)

• Quantum Theory of Probability and Decisions
• Probabilities from Entanglement, Born's Rule from Envariance
• Information Flow in Entangled Quantum Systems
• Objective properties from subjective quantum states: Environment as a witness
• Environment as a Witness: Selective Proliferation of Information and Emergence of Objectivity in a Quantum Universe
• Quantum origin of quantum jumps: Breaking of unitary symmetry induced by information transfer and the transition from quantum to classical
• Quantum information science as an approach to complex quantum systems