The Universal Arrow of Time I: Classical mechanics

Abstract

Statistical physics cannot explain why a thermodynamic arrow of time exists, unless one postulates very special and unnatural initial conditions. Yet, we argue that statistical physics can explain why the thermodynamic arrow of time is universal, i.e., why the arrow points in the same direction everywhere. Namely, if two subsystems have opposite arrow-directions at a particular time, the interaction between them makes the configuration statistically unstable and causes a decay towards a system with a universal direction of the arrow of time. We present general qualitative arguments for that claim and support them by a detailed analysis of a toy model based on the baker's map.

21 pages, 5 figures, In English and in Russian

References in corpus (3)

• Physics in the Real Universe: Time and Spacetime
• A quantum solution to the arrow-of-time dilemma
• Comment on `Quantum resolution to the arrow of time dilemma'

Cited by in corpus (4)

• First Principles Numerical Demonstration of Emergent Decoherent Histories
• The Universal Arrow of Time II: Quantum mechanics case
• The Universal Arrow of Time III-IV:(Part III) Nonquantum gravitation theory (Part IV) Quantum gravitation theory
• The Universal Arrow of Time V-VI: (Part V) Unpredictable dynamics (Part VI) Future of artificial intelligence - Art, not Science: Practical Application of Unpredictable Systems