In Newton's classical mechanics, time played the role of a monotonically increasing evolution parameter. Einstein rejected the Newtonian concept and instead identified time as the fourth coordinate of a space-time four-vector. Today, scientists are considering different concepts of time as a means of resolving incompatibilities between relativity and quantum mechanics. Some view time as an emergent property of a system rather than a fundamental property, while others consider two temporal variables. The purpose of this book is to examine the role of time in modern physics so that the reader gains an increased awareness of time and its place in our understanding of nature.
Contents:
Preface
About the Author
Introduction to the Enigma of Time
Newtonian Time:
Time from Prehistory to the Ancient Greeks
Time from Ptolemy to Kepler
Newton and Maxwell
Einsteinian Time:
Einstein's Special Relativity
Paradoxes of Special Relativity
Gravity and Action at a Distance
General Relativity
Cosmology and the Inflationary Universe:
Introduction to Modern Cosmology
Evidence for the Expanding Universe
Physics of the Subatomic Scale
Prelude to the Big Bang
The Inflationary Universe
The Future of Time:
Time's Arrow
Time: Death or Rebirth?
Historical Time
Epilogue Resolving the Enigma of Time
Dates of Selected Characters
References
Index
Readership: General public. Also suitable for undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty and researchers in the fields of history of science, philosophy of science, general physics etc. Key Features:
The book shows that many of the issues which arise in understanding time occur when time is treated as if it is the same physical quantity in every application