Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T15:32:50.827Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Can Quantum Thermodynamics Save Time?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Noel Swanson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The thermal time hypothesis (TTH) is a proposed solution to the problem of time: a coarse-grained state determines a thermal dynamics according to which it is in equilibrium, and this defines the flow of time in generally covariant quantum theories. This article raises a series of objections to the TTH as developed by Alain Connes and Carlo Rovelli. Two technical challenges concern the relationship between thermal time and proper time and the possibility of implementing the TTH in classical theories. Three conceptual problems concern the flow of time in nonequilibrium states and the extent to which the TTH is background independent and gauge invariant.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 88 , Issue 2 , April 2021 , pp. 281 - 302
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alfsen, E., and Shultz, F.. 1998. “Orientation in Operator Algebras.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 95:6596–601.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Basart, H., Flato, M., Lichnerowicz, A., and Sternheimer, D.. 1984. “Deformation Theory Applied to Quantization and Statistical Mechanics.” Letters in Mathematical Physics 8:483–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belot, G. 2005. “The Representation of Time and Change in Mechanics.” In Handbook of the Philosophy of Physics, ed. Earman, J. and Butterfield, J.. Amsterdam: North-Holland.Google Scholar
Borchers, H. J. 2000. “On Revolutionizing Quantum Field Theory with Tomita’s Modular Theory.” Journal of Mathematical Physics 41 (6): 3604–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bratteli, O., and Robinson, D. W.. 1981. Operator Algebras and Quantum Statistical Mechanics II. Dordrecht: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brunetti, R., Fredenhagen, K., and Verch, R.. 2003. “The Generally Covariant Locality Principle: A New Paradigm for Local Quantum Field Theory.” Communications in Mathematical Physics 237:31–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brunetti, R., and Moretti, V.. 2010. “Modular Dynamics in Diamonds.” arXiv, Cornell University. https://arxiv.org/abs/1009.4990.Google Scholar
Buchholz, D., and Verch, R.. 1995. “Scaling Algebras and Renormalization Group in Algebraic Quantum Field Theory.” Reviews in Mathematical Physics 7:1195–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connes, A., and Rovelli, C.. 1994. “Von Neumann Algebra Automorphisms and Time-Thermodynamics Relation in Generally Covariant Quantum Theories.” Classical and Quantum Gravity 11 (12): 2899–917.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Earman, J. 2011. “The Unruh Effect for Philosophers.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 42:81–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eddington, A. 1935. The Nature of the Physical World. London: Dent.Google Scholar
Fletcher, S. 2013. “Light Clocks and the Clock Hypothesis.” Foundations of Physics 43:1369–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallavotti, G., and Pulvirenti, M.. 1976. “Classical KMS Condition and Tomita-Takesaki Theory.” Communications in Mathematical Physics 46:1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hetzroni, G. 2020. “Gauge and Ghosts.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/axz021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jian-yang, Z., Aidong, B., and Zheng, Z.. 1995. “Rindler Effect for a Nonuniformly Accelerating Observer.” International Journal of Theoretical Physics 34:2049–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landsman, N. 1998. Mathematical Topics between Classical and Quantum Mechanics. New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinetti, P. 2007. “A Brief Remark on Unruh Effect and Causality.” Journal of Physics: Conference Series 68:012027.Google Scholar
Martinetti, P., and Rovelli, C.. 2003. “Diamond’s Temperature: Unruh Effect for Bounded Trajectories and Thermal Time Hypothesis.” Classical and Quantum Gravity 20 (22): 4919.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitts, J. B. 2018. “Equivalent Theories and Changing Hamiltonian Observables in General Relativity.” Foundations of Physics 48:579–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rovelli, C. 1993. “The Statistical State of the Universe.” Classical and Quantum Gravity 10 (8): 1567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rovelli, C. 2011. “‘Forget Time’: Essay Written for the FQXi Contest on the Nature of Time.” Foundations of Physics 41:1475–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rovelli, C. 2014. “Why Gauge?” Foundations of Physics 44 (1): 91–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruetsche, L. 2014. “Warming Up to Thermal the Thermal Time Hypothesis.” Presented at the Quantum Time Conference, University of Pittsburgh, March 28–29.Google Scholar
Saffary, T. 2005. “Modular Action on the Massive Algebra.” PhD diss., University of Hamburg.Google Scholar
Swanson, N. 2014. “Modular Theory and Spacetime Structure in QFT.” PhD diss., Princeton University.Google Scholar
Teh, N. J. 2015. “A Note on Rovelli’s ‘Why Gauge?’” European Journal of the Philosophy of Science 5:339–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thébault, K. 2021. “The Problem of Time.” In The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Physics, ed. Knox, E. and Wilson, A.. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Trebels, S. 1997. “Über die Geometrische Wirkung Modularer Automoprhismen.” PhD diss., University of Göttingen.Google Scholar
Wallace, D. 2012. The Emergent Multiverse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weinstein, A. 1997. “The Modular Automorphism Group of a Poisson Manifold.” Journal of Geometry and Physics 23:379–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar