Modern 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 journey 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.
Author(s): Michael Lockwood
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 416
Contents......Page 10
1. Two Concepts of Time......Page 12
2. Time and Space: A Marriage is Arranged......Page 34
3. Taking Space–Time Seriously......Page 63
4. From Flat to Curved Space–Time......Page 82
5. Weaving the Cosmic Tapestry......Page 101
6. Closed Timelike Curves: Science Fact or Science Fiction?......Page 135
7. Classical Time Travel: The Toils of Paradox......Page 166
8. Hamilton’s Legacy: Physical Systems and their State Spaces......Page 189
9. Time Asymmetry and the Second Law......Page 198
10. Entropy, Electrodynamics, and the Role of Gravity......Page 232
11. ‘Drawn through Life Backwards’......Page 244
12. The Unyielding Past......Page 259
13. The Emergence of Order......Page 268
14. From Quantum Jumps to Schrödinger’s Cat......Page 293
15. Schrödinger’s Time-Traveller......Page 333
16. Space, Time, and Quantum Gravity: Physics at the Frontier......Page 342
17. The Time of our Lives......Page 376
References......Page 394
B......Page 410
E......Page 411
G......Page 412
M......Page 413
P......Page 414
S......Page 415
Z......Page 416
