Arrow Of Time

Arrow Of Time

Known as the "past hypothesis" problem, the Universe's initially low entropy has long puzzled scientists. Now, cosmic inflation solves it.
bounce ball
Whether you run the clock forward or backward, most of us expect the laws of physics to be the same. A 2012 experiment showed otherwise.
bounce ball
Our thermodynamic arrow of time explains why the entropy of any isolated system always increases. But it can't explain what we perceive.
time
You are trapped in time. You never live in the world as it is but only as you experience it as it was.
Ever since the start of the hot Big Bang, time ticks forward as the Universe expands. But could time ever run backward, instead?
time
We take for granted that time is real. But what if it's only an illusion, and a relative illusion at that? Does time even exist?
quantum steampunk
How efficiently could quantum engines operate?
Time always moves in the same direction, but what if the Universe were contracting? As we step forward in time, a number of things always seem to happen together. Objects […]
The combination of charge conjugation, parity, and time-reversal symmetry is known as CPT. And it must never be broken. Ever. The ultimate goal of physics is to accurately describe, as precisely […]
If you think you have problems today, be glad you’re not moving at the speed of light. Special relativity, even though it’s over 100 years old, is still one of the […]
In the far future, the last star burns out, stellar corpses get violently ejected, and galaxies accelerate away. And then the fun begins. For centuries, the biggest questions about our Universe […]