Sunday, January 23, 2011

Time - Symmetry & Antimatter

If you have been a little careful while dealing with the fundamental equations of classical physics you would have noted that they seems to be symmetric w.r.t. time. In other words they involve second order differentials w.r.t. time so that replacing ‘t’ with ‘-t’ would not make any change. But the thing is that when you look at various phenomenon occurring naturally you will find that they proceed in only one direction contrary to what expected from theoretical arguments. But one could argue that law of entropy of thermodynamics says that the total entropy of the universe is always increasing( in layman’s words!). So we could say (possibly) that entropy is proportional to time as both seems to have an identical direction or in other words time increases in the direction of increasing entropy. So if we agree with this we could say that reversing the time is prohibited by thermodynamics and hence is in harmony with what we observe in nature. But wait…imagine a container in which gases of two types are mixing together and thus as time goes on the container become more and more disordered. System as we would rightly guess is irreversible and as time moves forward it would only become more and more disordered. Now if you follow the particles in the system individually and make them trace their path by reversing the time (somehow!) we could no longer say that the motion is forbidden by the laws of physics. In other words, the microscopic world is ‘reversible in time’.
A very curious thing is that a white hole could be considered as a ‘time reversed effect’ of black hole although it’s a theoretical thing it suggest that there is a relation between antimatter and time reversal. It gives a us a way to handle theoretically an antimatter as a ‘time reversed’ effect of matter or in layman’s language a matter moving away from you could be same as an antimatter coming towards you. Well that explains a lot. But am i giving a double meaning to the concept of time reversal? Well if you think so then that would be a near yes. Now i am going to extend and stretch it further until it breaks down! Consider  a state of universe where all the matter ( and of course antimatter!) were crushed down to a tiny state so that the universe is only microscopically small ( i am deliberately avoiding a singularity). At this stage all nature would have no discrimination between matter and antimatter or in other words they be present in equal amounts. But universe could not continue in this state for long and would ‘decide’ to proceed forward and symmetry between matter and antimatter breaks down at this instant and matter starts to dominate ( choice of calling one antimatter and another matter is our choice).
The very observation that matter dominates seems to explain why the universe is one sided in the direction of time. But then you will say no that’s not a good reason, you have left the microscopic property. Hey! there is some complexity arising here. The fundamental laws of physics is the same for matter and antimatter (as far as we know) , then it would be no surprise to claim that the laws must be time symmetric and indeed it is. Then a particle obeying such a law would surely would follow a ‘time symmetric path’.
But you would then ask why the universe selected matter over antimatter or why we does not see a universe dominated by antimatter rather than matter. Well i would have to add some remarks. Firstly, choice of calling something antimatter and another matter is a choice that is entirely our own and nature doesn’t have anything to do with naming system. Secondly, the very reason or cause of domination of one over another in the present universe is still an open question!
(Note:The contents in this article are only my ideas and opinions and should not be considered too seriously. Any comments and corrections about the articles present in this blog are welcome.)

Major Laws of Physics

 

About Physical Laws:

Over the years, one thing scientists have discovered is that nature is generally more complex than we give it credit for. The following laws of physics are considered fundamental, but many of them refer to idealized, closed systems, which are hard to obtain in the real world. Also, some are altered slightly in different circumstances. The laws that Newton developed, for example, are modified by the findings of the theory of relativity, but they are still basically valid in most regular cases that you'll run into.

Newton's Three Laws of Motion:

Sir Isaac Newton developed the Three Laws of Motion, which describe basic rules about how the motion of physical objects change. Newton was able to define the fundamental relationship between the acceleration of an object and the total forces acting upon it.

"Law" of Gravity:

Newton developed his "Law of Gravity" to explain the attractive force between a pair of masses. In the twentieth century, it became clear that this is not the whole story, as Einstein's theory of general relativity has provided a more comprehensive explanation for the phenomenon of gravity. Still, Newton's law of gravity is an accurate low-energy approximation that works for most of the cases that you'll explore in physics.

Conservation of Mass-Energy:

The total energy in a closed or isolated system is constant, no matter what happens. Another law stated that the mass in an isolated system is constant. When Einstein discovered the relationship E=mc2 (in other words that mass was a manifestation of energy) the law was said to refer to the conservation of mass-energy. The total of both mass and energy is retained, although some may change forms. The ultimate example of this is a nuclear explosion, where mass transforms into energy.

Conservation of Momentum:

The total momentum in a closed or isolated system remains constant. An alternative of this is the law of conservation of angular momentum.

Laws of Thermodynamics:

The laws of thermodynamics are actually specific manifestations of the law of conservation of mass-energy as it relates to thermodynamic processes.
  • The zeroeth law of thermodynamics makes the notion of temperature possible.
  • The first law of thermodynamics demonstrates the relationship between internal energy, added heat, and work within a system.
  • The second law of thermodynamics relates to the natural flow of heat within a closed system.
  • The third law of thermodynamics states that it is impossible to create a thermodynamic process which is perfectly efficient.

Electrostatic Laws:

Coulomb's law and Gauss's law are formulations of the relationship between electrically charged particles to create electrostatic force and electrostatic fields. The formulas, it turns out, parallel the laws of universal gravitation in structure. There also exist similar laws relating to magnetism and electromagnetism as a whole.

Invariance of the Speed of Light:

Einstein's major insight, which led him to the Theory of Relativity, was the realization that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant and is not measured differently for observers in different inertial frames of reference, unlike all other forms of motion. Some theoretical physicists have conjectured different variable speed of light (VSL) possibilities, but these are highly speculative. Most physicists believe that Einstein was right and the speed of light is constant.

Modern Physics & Physical Laws:

In the realm of relativity and quantum mechanics, scientists have found that these laws still apply, although their interpretation requires some refinement to be applied, resulting in fields such as quantum electronics and quantum gravity. Care should be taken in applying them in these situations.
Classical Laws of Physics
  • Newton's Three Laws of Motion
  • Newton's Law of Gravity
Modern Laws of Physics
  • Einstein's Theory of Relativity
  • Quantum Physics
Energy Conservation Laws of Physics
  • Laws of Thermodynamics 


Source:Internet