Oxfоrd Univеrsity Prеss, 2005, 405 pages
Mode physics has revealed our knowledge of the universe as a much stranger place than we could have imagined. The puzzle at the center of our understanding of the universe is time. Michael Lockwood takes the reader on a fascinating jouey into the nature of things. He investigates philosophical questions about the past, present, and future, our experience of time, and the possibility of time travel. And he provides the most careful, lively, and up-to-date introduction to the physics of time and the structure of the universe. His aim is not just to boggle the mind, but to lead the reader towards an understanding of the science and philosophy.
Two Concepts of Time
Time and Space: A Marriage is Arranged
Taking Space–Time Seriously
From Flat to Curved Space–Time
Weaving the Cosmic Tapestry
Closed Timelike Curves: Science Fact or Science Fiction?
Classical Time Travel: The Toils of Paradox
Hamilton’s Legacy: Physical Systems and their State Spaces
Time Asymmetry and the Second Law
Entropy, Electrodynamics, and the Role of Gravity
‘Drawn through Life Backwards’
The Unyielding Past
The Emergence of Order
From Quantum Jumps to Schro?dinger’s Cat
Schro?dinger’s Time-Traveller
Space, Time, and Quantum Gravity: Physics at the Frontier
The Time of our Lives
Mode physics has revealed our knowledge of the universe as a much stranger place than we could have imagined. The puzzle at the center of our understanding of the universe is time. Michael Lockwood takes the reader on a fascinating jouey into the nature of things. He investigates philosophical questions about the past, present, and future, our experience of time, and the possibility of time travel. And he provides the most careful, lively, and up-to-date introduction to the physics of time and the structure of the universe. His aim is not just to boggle the mind, but to lead the reader towards an understanding of the science and philosophy.
Two Concepts of Time
Time and Space: A Marriage is Arranged
Taking Space–Time Seriously
From Flat to Curved Space–Time
Weaving the Cosmic Tapestry
Closed Timelike Curves: Science Fact or Science Fiction?
Classical Time Travel: The Toils of Paradox
Hamilton’s Legacy: Physical Systems and their State Spaces
Time Asymmetry and the Second Law
Entropy, Electrodynamics, and the Role of Gravity
‘Drawn through Life Backwards’
The Unyielding Past
The Emergence of Order
From Quantum Jumps to Schro?dinger’s Cat
Schro?dinger’s Time-Traveller
Space, Time, and Quantum Gravity: Physics at the Frontier
The Time of our Lives