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It’s known that the fundamental laws of physics are time symmetric. In electromagnetism $t$ can be changed to $-t$ and time reversal is also valid in particle physics, as there is the CPT symmetry.

Yet the following are still regarded as problems:

Why do we see time ‘flowing’ in one direction? Why do we see a dropped cup smash into thousands of pieces, but never see the pieces reassemble into a cup?

Why is there more matter than antimatter?

The first has caused scientists to wonder about different ‘arrows of time’, physical, psychological and thermodynamic. The matter/antimatter asymmetry has been a worry for cosmologists.

But can time be so fundamentally symmetrical that these issues cease to be a problem? Can time symmetry cause the apparent matter/antimatter asymmetry as described below? Is there any recommended work existing on this approach?

enter image description here

Let’s consider two universes A and B.

Universe A starts in a hot dense state, as is believed to exist at the moment of the Big Bang. There is no life and no psychological arrow of time. Just a dense ‘soup’ of randomly moving particles.

Universe A expands and cools. Atoms and stars form. Life evolves on one of the planets. The lifeform (people) invent cups. Someone drops one and it smashes into a thousand pieces. We wonder why we never see time flow the other way…

enter image description here

Universe B starts in a hot dense state, as is believed to exist at the moment of the Big Bang.

Time is flowing in the opposite direction to the time in universe A. Compared to Universe A there is a CPT transformation - (the motion of all particles is reversed, the charge of each particle is changed and there is a change in parity).

There is no life and no psychological arrow of time. Just a dense ‘soup’ of randomly moving particles. Let’s see what happens.

Universe B expands and cools. Atoms and stars form. Life evolves on one of the planets. The lifeform invent cups. One is dropped and it smashes into a thousand pieces. The lifeform wonders why they never see time flow the other way…

So, the point is:

If the laws of physics are truly time symmetric, then it would not be possible to decide which universe A or B is ‘our’ universe. Also it’s not possible to say there is more matter than antimatter, or that time is flowing ‘forward’. It’s equally valid to regard us as living in an antimatter universe with time flowing backwards.

For both universes A and B, time would appear to go forward and there would naturally appear to be more matter than antimatter.

Is this a valid argument? Can time symmetry cause the apparent matter/antimatter asymmetry? Are there any references anyone can recommend for this kind of thing?

It’s known that the fundamental laws of physics are time symmetric. In electromagnetism $t$ can be changed to $-t$ and time reversal is also valid in particle physics, as there is the CPT symmetry.

Yet the following are still regarded as problems:

Why do we see time ‘flowing’ in one direction? Why do we see a dropped cup smash into thousands of pieces, but never see the pieces reassemble into a cup?

Why is there more matter than antimatter?

The first has caused scientists to wonder about different ‘arrows of time’, physical, psychological and thermodynamic. The matter/antimatter asymmetry has been a worry for cosmologists.

But can time be so fundamentally symmetrical that these issues cease to be a problem? Can time symmetry cause the apparent matter/antimatter asymmetry as described below? Is there any recommended work existing on this approach?

enter image description here

Let’s consider two universes A and B.

Universe A starts in a hot dense state, as is believed to exist at the moment of the Big Bang. There is no life and no psychological arrow of time. Just a dense ‘soup’ of randomly moving particles.

Universe A expands and cools. Atoms and stars form. Life evolves on one of the planets. The lifeform (people) invent cups. Someone drops one and it smashes into a thousand pieces. We wonder why we never see time flow the other way…

enter image description here

Universe B starts in a hot dense state, as is believed to exist at the moment of the Big Bang.

Time is flowing in the opposite direction to the time in universe A. Compared to Universe A there is a CPT transformation - (the motion of all particles is reversed, the charge of each particle is changed and there is a change in parity).

There is no life and no psychological arrow of time. Just a dense ‘soup’ of randomly moving particles. Let’s see what happens.

Universe B expands and cools. Atoms and stars form. Life evolves on one of the planets. The lifeform invent cups. One is dropped and it smashes into a thousand pieces. The lifeform wonders why they never see time flow the other way…

So, the point is:

If the laws of physics are truly time symmetric, then it would not be possible to decide which universe A or B is ‘our’ universe. Also it’s not possible to say there is more matter than antimatter, or that time is flowing ‘forward’. It’s equally valid to regard us as living in an antimatter universe with time flowing backwards.

For both universes A and B, time would appear to go forward and there would naturally appear to be more matter than antimatter.

Is this a valid argument? Can time symmetry cause the apparent matter/antimatter asymmetry? Are there any references anyone can recommend for this kind of thing?

It’s known that the fundamental laws of physics are time symmetric. In electromagnetism $t$ can be changed to $-t$ and time reversal is also valid in particle physics, as there is the CPT symmetry.

Yet the following are still regarded as problems:

Why do we see time ‘flowing’ in one direction? Why do we see a dropped cup smash into thousands of pieces, but never see the pieces reassemble into a cup?

Why is there more matter than antimatter?

The first has caused scientists to wonder about different ‘arrows of time’, physical, psychological and thermodynamic. The matter/antimatter asymmetry has been a worry for cosmologists.

But can time be so fundamentally symmetrical that these issues cease to be a problem? Can time symmetry cause the apparent matter/antimatter asymmetry as described below? Is there any recommended work existing on this approach?

enter image description here

Let’s consider two universes A and B.

Universe A starts in a hot dense state, as is believed to exist at the moment of the Big Bang. There is no life and no psychological arrow of time. Just a dense ‘soup’ of randomly moving particles.

Universe A expands and cools. Atoms and stars form. Life evolves on one of the planets. The lifeform (people) invent cups. Someone drops one and it smashes into a thousand pieces. We wonder why we never see time flow the other way…

enter image description here

Universe B starts in a hot dense state, as is believed to exist at the moment of the Big Bang.

Time is flowing in the opposite direction to the time in universe A. Compared to Universe A there is a CPT transformation - (the motion of all particles is reversed, the charge of each particle is changed and there is a change in parity).

There is no life and no psychological arrow of time. Just a dense ‘soup’ of randomly moving particles. Let’s see what happens.

Universe B expands and cools. Atoms and stars form. Life evolves on one of the planets. The lifeform invent cups. One is dropped and it smashes into a thousand pieces. The lifeform wonders why they never see time flow the other way…

So, the point is:

If the laws of physics are truly time symmetric, then it would not be possible to decide which universe A or B is ‘our’ universe. Also it’s not possible to say there is more matter than antimatter, or that time is flowing ‘forward’. It’s equally valid to regard us as living in an antimatter universe with time flowing backwards.

For both universes A and B, time would appear to go forward and there would naturally appear to be more matter than antimatter.

Is this a valid argument? Can time symmetry cause the apparent matter/antimatter asymmetry?

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John Hunter
John Hunter
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Does time symmetry cause the matter/antimatter asymmetry?

It’s known that the fundamental laws of physics are time symmetric. In electromagnetism $t$ can be changed to $-t$ and time reversal is also valid in particle physics, as there is the CPT symmetry.

Yet the following are still regarded as problems:

Why do we see time ‘flowing’ in one direction? Why do we see a dropped cup smash into thousands of pieces, but never see the pieces reassemble into a cup?

Why is there more matter than antimatter?

The first has caused scientists to wonder about different ‘arrows of time’, physical, psychological and thermodynamic. The matter/antimatter asymmetry has been a worry for cosmologists.

But can time be so fundamentally symmetrical that these issues cease to be a problem? Can time symmetry cause the apparent matter/antimatter asymmetry as described below? Is there any recommended work existing on this approach?

enter image description here

Let’s consider two universes A and B.

Universe A starts in a hot dense state, as is believed to exist at the moment of the Big Bang. There is no life and no psychological arrow of time. Just a dense ‘soup’ of randomly moving particles.

Universe A expands and cools. Atoms and stars form. Life evolves on one of the planets. The lifeform (people) invent cups. Someone drops one and it smashes into a thousand pieces. We wonder why we never see time flow the other way…

enter image description here

Universe B starts in a hot dense state, as is believed to exist at the moment of the Big Bang.

Time is flowing in the opposite direction to the time in universe A. Compared to Universe A there is a CPT transformation - (the motion of all particles is reversed, the charge of each particle is changed and there is a change in parity).

There is no life and no psychological arrow of time. Just a dense ‘soup’ of randomly moving particles. Let’s see what happens.

Universe B expands and cools. Atoms and stars form. Life evolves on one of the planets. The lifeform invent cups. One is dropped and it smashes into a thousand pieces. The lifeform wonders why they never see time flow the other way…

So, the point is:

If the laws of physics are truly time symmetric, then it would not be possible to decide which universe A or B is ‘our’ universe. Also it’s not possible to say there is more matter than antimatter, or that time is flowing ‘forward’. It’s equally valid to regard us as living in an antimatter universe with time flowing backwards.

For both universes A and B, time would appear to go forward and there would naturally appear to be more matter than antimatter.

Is this a valid argument? Can time symmetry cause the apparent matter/antimatter asymmetry? Are there any references anyone can recommend for this kind of thing?