The Origin of the Universe and the Arrow of Time

Multimedia · Wed Feb 11 00:00:00 EST 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/AERO.2010.5447043· OSTI ID:987430

Carroll, Sean

Over a century ago, Boltzmann and others provided a microscopic understanding for the tendency of entropy to increase. But this understanding relies ultimately on an empirical fact about cosmology: the early universe had very low entropy. Why was it like that? Cosmologist aspire to provide a dynamical explanation for the observed state of the universe, but have had very little to say about the dramatic asymmetry between early times and late times. I will argue that the search for a natural explanation for the observed breakdown of time-reversal symmetry in cosmology leads us directly to interesting conclusions about inflation, quantum gravity, and the multiverse.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 987430
• Resource Relation: Conference: Fermilab Colloquia, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batvia, Illinois (United States), presented on February 11, 2009
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
TIME-REVERSAL SYMMETRY
ENTROPY
DARK ENERGY
QUANTUM GRAVITY