It was first proposed as a reductio ad absurdum response to ludwig boltzmanns early explanation for the low. I just noticed this question which has been lying around unanswered for a long time. Poincare contemplates copernicus at mathpages high anxieties the mathematics of chaos 2008 bbc documentary directed by david malone looking at the influence of poincares discoveries on 20th century mathematics. Mar 12, 2015 and yes, if poincare recurrence holds for the universe, the entire history of the universe will repeat. Let a be the set of points in b that do not return to b infinitely many times. Lee smolin is a very good popularizer of science, a provocative thinker, and a skilled polemicist. This means that our universe can have a finite lifetime bounded by the current age of the universe. Bbc in our time, discussion of the poincare conjecture, 2 november 2006, hosted by melvynn bragg. Sep 24, 2009 from eternity to here by sean carroll is an excellent book on the nature of time itself. Is our universe the ultimate artifact of the mind and hand of an intelligent creator. From eternity to here by sean carroll is an excellent book on the nature of time itself. In 1896, the mathematician ernst zermelo advanced a theory that the second law of thermodynamics was absolute rather than statistical. Is poincare recurrence theorem pcrt considered a possible explanation for the low entropy initial conditions of the universe.
The time between all the particles and photons being released from that cubic micron and their return, by chance, to that same cubic micron is called a poincare recurrence. Perhaps we might imagine that our observable universe is just one of the newly birthed offspring of an infinitely old, preexisting universe. Poincare, jules henri internet encyclopedia of philosophy. For a phase space obeying liouvilles theorem closed, noncompressable, nondecompressable, the probability of the system entering the lowest probability. God had authored the book of the universe, but the characters in this little. Entropy can be reset to a previous or to an initial state. Poincare recurrence time this is very complicated stuff, but the core concept is relatively simple. The poincare conjecture author donal oshea claims the book is intended for general readers, but i, with a masters in physics, still found it rough going. The universe has a finite number of possible states. Perhaps its because understanding the concepts involved doesnt depend on an education in science so much as learning to think in. Historic recurrence is the repetition of similar events in history. The theory is found in indian philosophy and in ancient egypt as well as judaic wisdom literature. For the first time, this recurrence theorem has now been.
To me, after reading that book, i see the very elemental dark matter as mayhap one day as a new source of virtually unilimited energy, and extinguishing even this supply would lead to the omega point god and mayhap to the poincare recurrence theorem given time. The poincare recurrence time exists for any closed system. If the universe continues expanding forever, will the. The system should satisfy the following properties. Note that it only applies in the case in which an external source of randomness entropy comes in and mixes with our originally isolated system. The book is written for the curious individual who remembers a little high school geometry. In the foundations of mathematics he argued for conventionalism, against formalism, against logicism, and against cantors treating his new infinite sets as being. In physics, the poincare recurrence theorem states that certain systems will, after a sufficiently long but finite time, return to a state arbitrarily close to for. If any of these assumptions is false, the poincare recurrence theorem will break down. Nothing in our physical universe can affect the irrationality of for that matter, nothing in our physical universe can affect the irrationality of mat. In search of the shape of the universe by donal oshea. To me, after reading that book, i see the very elemental dark matter as mayhap one day as a new source of virtually unilimited energy, and extinguishing even this supply would lead to the omega point god and mayhap to the poincare recurrence theorem given time mayhap even back to alpha if it existed. I first encountered the scientific case for the existence of god in the april 1987 issue of analog science fiction science fact.
The end of the world popular writings reasonable faith. Dont trust your theoretical proof starts with a bang. The age of our universe is much smaller than the poincare recurrence times. Perhaps its because understanding the concepts involved doesnt depend on an education in science so much as learning. The great year should not be confused with the time that the precession of the. The poincare recurrence theorem will hold for the universe only if the following assumptions are true.
General relativity and the eternal return sciencedirect. All the particles in the system are bound to a finite volume. The conjecture of our universe s spawning future offspring by such a mechanism was the subject of a bet between stephen hawking and james preskill, which hawking in 2004 finally admitted, in an event much. For the first time, this recurrence theorem has now been demonstrated with complex quantum manybody systems at tu wien vienna. For an ordinary thermodynamical system the poincar\e recurrence time is exponentially large in the boltzmann entropy of the system. The poincare recurrence time of certain systems is the time for them to revert to a state almost identical to their current state. Eternal return also known as eternal recurrence is a theory that the universe and all existence and energy has been recurring, and will continue to recur, in a selfsimilar form an infinite number of times across infinite time or space. The lower domain of the universe is fated to collapse at a certain point in time, so his plan throughout the series is to manipulate events to initiate eternal recurrence to reset the universe, in order to stave off destruction. What is the significance of the poincare recurrence theorem. If it was overall headed toward some state, then it would have long since reached that state, given an infinite past.
This 2007 book was one of the flood that greeted the proof, by grigori perelman, of the poincare conjecture. Poincare recurrence and the second law of thermodynamics. Are poincare recurrence time and the 2nd law contradictory concepts. Oct 26, 20 of course if the system remains isolated long enough we will occasionally also see a return to the initial macrostatethe expected time for such a poincare recurrence is however much longer than the age of the universe and so is of no practical relevance when discussing the approach to equilibrium of a macroscopic system. Now this is not going to be a serious attempt at an answer. If poincare recurrence time applies to our universe, is. Or is it the product of calculated, deliberate design.
The team had explored a phenomenon called poincare recurrences as a way around the spacetime limitations constraining their model. It is clear that the author tried hard to make the book accessible to everyone from the curious high school student to the research mathematician. Specifically, using a compartmental dynamical system energy flow model we develop a statespace dynamical system model that captures the key aspects of thermodynamics, including its fundamental laws. A spacetime crystal to outlive the universe universe today. General relativity and the eternal return 25 tung ku held that a world period had a beginning, but not the endless chain of all world periods see 20, p. Jun 09, 2015 the poincare conjecture by donal oshea 2007 i recently read the poincare conjecture. The book is for the layman and is quite wellwritten, with its focus being on the arrow of time and why it exists. Poincare was an influential french philosopher of science and mathematics, as well as a distinguished scientist and mathematician. The recurrence problem the information philosopher. Its strongly implied that hes successfully done this many times prior to the events of the game. If the universe continues expanding forever, will the poincare recurrence. Everything goes back to the way it was at some point, complex systems return almost exactly to their initial state.
Through his musings, we find content on information theory, statistical thermodynamics and. Timereversal symmetry, poincare recurrence, irreversibility, and the entropic arrow of time. General relativity, thermodynamics, and the poincare cycle nature. In this paper, we combine the two universalisms of thermodynamics and dynamical systems theory to develop a dynamical system formalism for classical thermodynamics. June 2007 elizabeth holden nonfiction the poincare conjecture. Dec 07, 20 one of the coolest uses is the poincare recurrence time. Donal osheas book the poincare conjecture is a very readable popular account of the history of the poincare conjecture, recently proved by grigori perelman. Quantum poincare recurrence time for quantum state of an extremely hypothetical black hole with mass of entire universe this is the largest number i have ever seen related to physics it is sited on robert munafos large number list on page 21 the last page of the list 6.
Jan 02, 2008 oshea tells the whole story in this book, neatly interweaving his main theme with the history of ideas about our planet and universe. Tony padilla explains that since there are a finite amount of microstates of the universe, the universe will return to any state after a long amount of time. But the recurrence time for the universe inside our horizon is absurdly large, so much so that it is little more than a theoretical curiosity. What surprised me is how many followers it has gathered without any attempt at an answer. Eternal return also known as eternal recurrence is a theory that the universe and all existence and energy has been recurring, and will continue to recur, in a selfsimilar form an infinite number of times across infinite time or space the theory is found in indian philosophy and in ancient egypt as well as judaic wisdom literature ecclesiastes and was subsequently taken up by the. Are poincare recurrence time and the 2nd law contradictory. To apply the theorem, you have to assume, basically, that the universe stays within a finite region. The poincare recurrence time of certain systems is the time for them to revert to a state almost identical to their. Historic recurrence project gutenberg selfpublishing. And yes, if poincare recurrence holds for the universe, the entire history of the universe will repeat. If the universe is closed and isolated, which indicates that its probably qualified for experiencing a poincare recurrence in cosmic scale, will the entire history of our universe happen for an.
The boltzmann brain argument suggests that it is more likely for a single brain to spontaneously and briefly form in a void complete with a false memory of having existed in our universe than it is for our universe to have come about in the way modern science thinks it actually did. Through his musings, we find content on information theory, statistical thermodynamics and so on. Several questions about the poincare recurrence time. I estimated a quantum poincare recurrence time for the quantum state of an extremely hypothetical rigid nonpermeable box containing a black hole with the mass of what may be the entire universe in one of andrei lindes stachastic inflationary models and got 10101010101.
However, the latest evidence suggests that the supernovae results are actually wrong, and we are left concluding that we are in a closed, collapsing universe. From the crisis in physics to the future of the universe, displays an uneasy mix of those abilities. Question i just watched this video regarding the poincare recurrence time, in which dr. Regarding the dimension of time, if cycles of precisely identical universe and life histories occur, we see that from our perspective, the dimension of time will effectively be circular. Whats funny about this is that one can compute the time necessary for the poincare recurrence to happen, and you get something like 1010100 years, or. In search of the shape of the universe is about henri poincares conjecture, which is central to our understanding of ourselves and the universe in which we live. It is a clear, wellwritten description of the physics of time and timelessness, an introduction to some intriguing new ideas, and a carefully crafted. The conjecture of our universes spawning future offspring by such a mechanism was the subject of a bet between stephen hawking and james preskill, which hawking in 2004 finally admitted, in an event much. Zermelo bolstered his theory by pointing out that the poincare recurrence theorem shows statistical entropy in a closed system must eventually be a periodic function. Its strongly implied that hes successfully done this many times prior to. If the universe continues expanding forever, will the poincare. Utahraptor, meanwhile, argues that the universe is not manifestly ergodic, and insists that the entropy problem is not yet resolved. Sep 19, 2016 one of the coolest uses is the poincare recurrence time. Meisner with the intriguing title universethe ultimate artifact.
Is the universe evidenceeven proofof the existence of god. Mar 16, 2015 is poincare recurrence theorem pcrt considered a possible explanation for the low entropy initial conditions of the universe. There is good coverage of all the main personalities involved, each one set in the social and academic context of his time. Timereversal symmetry, poincare recurrence, irreversibility. All the particles in the universe are bound to a finite volume. Centuries ago, when the ancient philosopher zeno pr. So unless the cosmological constant is wrong, a multiplebeginnings scenario oscillating universes remains both scientifically and philosophically impossible. New york sun donal oshea has written a truly marvelous book. Sandwiched among the science fiction stories was a fact article by richard d. Nov 26, 2017 if the universe is closed and isolated, which indicates that its probably qualified for experiencing a poincare recurrence in cosmic scale, will the entire history of our universe happen for an. Oshea tells the whole story in this book, neatly interweaving his main theme with the history of ideas about our planet and universe.
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