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Please also note that we do not accept unsolicited posts and we cannot review, or open new threads for, unsolicited articles or papers. Requests to review or post such materials will not be answered. If you have your own novel physics theory or model, which you would like to post for further discussion among then FQXi community, then please add them directly to the "Alternative Models of Reality" thread, or to the "Alternative Models of Cosmology" thread. Thank you.
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Undecidability, Uncomputability, and Unpredictability Essay Contest
December 24, 2019 - April 24, 2020
Contest Partners: Fetzer Franklin Fund, and The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation
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What Is “Fundamental”
October 28, 2017 to January 22, 2018
Sponsored by the Fetzer Franklin Fund and The Peter & Patricia Gruber Foundation
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Wandering Towards a Goal
How can mindless mathematical laws give rise to aims and intention?
December 2, 2016 to March 3, 2017
Contest Partner: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Fund.
read/discuss • winners
Trick or Truth: The Mysterious Connection Between Physics and Mathematics
Contest Partners: Nanotronics Imaging, The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, and The John Templeton Foundation
Media Partner: Scientific American
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How Should Humanity Steer the Future?
January 9, 2014 - August 31, 2014
Contest Partners: Jaan Tallinn, The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, The John Templeton Foundation, and Scientific American
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It From Bit or Bit From It
March 25 - June 28, 2013
Contest Partners: The Gruber Foundation, J. Templeton Foundation, and Scientific American
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Questioning the Foundations
Which of Our Basic Physical Assumptions Are Wrong?
May 24 - August 31, 2012
Contest Partners: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, SubMeta, and Scientific American
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Is Reality Digital or Analog?
November 2010 - February 2011
Contest Partners: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation and Scientific American
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What's Ultimately Possible in Physics?
May - October 2009
Contest Partners: Astrid and Bruce McWilliams
read/discuss • winners
The Nature of Time
August - December 2008
read/discuss • winners
Current Essay Contest
Previous Contests
Undecidability, Uncomputability, and Unpredictability Essay Contest
December 24, 2019 - April 24, 2020
Contest Partners: Fetzer Franklin Fund, and The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation
read/discuss • winners
What Is “Fundamental”
October 28, 2017 to January 22, 2018
Sponsored by the Fetzer Franklin Fund and The Peter & Patricia Gruber Foundation
read/discuss • winners
Wandering Towards a Goal
How can mindless mathematical laws give rise to aims and intention?
December 2, 2016 to March 3, 2017
Contest Partner: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Fund.
read/discuss • winners
Trick or Truth: The Mysterious Connection Between Physics and Mathematics
Contest Partners: Nanotronics Imaging, The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, and The John Templeton Foundation
Media Partner: Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
How Should Humanity Steer the Future?
January 9, 2014 - August 31, 2014
Contest Partners: Jaan Tallinn, The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, The John Templeton Foundation, and Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
It From Bit or Bit From It
March 25 - June 28, 2013
Contest Partners: The Gruber Foundation, J. Templeton Foundation, and Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
Questioning the Foundations
Which of Our Basic Physical Assumptions Are Wrong?
May 24 - August 31, 2012
Contest Partners: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, SubMeta, and Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
Is Reality Digital or Analog?
November 2010 - February 2011
Contest Partners: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation and Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
What's Ultimately Possible in Physics?
May - October 2009
Contest Partners: Astrid and Bruce McWilliams
read/discuss • winners
The Nature of Time
August - December 2008
read/discuss • winners
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RECENT POSTS IN THIS TOPIC
Harish Kumar: on 10/10/19 at 5:54am UTC, wrote It is a pleasant reading your essay. it appears you have examined the...
Narendra Nath: on 12/6/08 at 16:02pm UTC, wrote Dear Dr. Parikh. It is a pleasant reading your essay. it appears you have...
Carl Brannen: on 12/2/08 at 22:20pm UTC, wrote Interesting and thought provoking essay. The thing about analyzing energy...
Maulik Parikh: on 12/2/08 at 14:36pm UTC, wrote Essay Abstract The future differs from the past: it has more...
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Harish Kumar: on 10/10/19 at 5:54am UTC, wrote It is a pleasant reading your essay. it appears you have examined the...
Narendra Nath: on 12/6/08 at 16:02pm UTC, wrote Dear Dr. Parikh. It is a pleasant reading your essay. it appears you have...
Carl Brannen: on 12/2/08 at 22:20pm UTC, wrote Interesting and thought provoking essay. The thing about analyzing energy...
Maulik Parikh: on 12/2/08 at 14:36pm UTC, wrote Essay Abstract The future differs from the past: it has more...
RECENT FORUM POSTS
Georgina Woodward: "Still about the anatomy of spacetime. Max Tegmark/ 10mths ago/ Closer to..." in Anatomy of spacetime and...
Stefan Weckbach: "Hi Lorraine, in the case of the crashing twin-towers, the term “top-down..." in The Present State of...
Stefan Weckbach: "Hi Steve, take also care Steve, and may the force of the three spheres be..." in The Present State of...
Jim Snowdon: "Since evolving on our rapidly rotating planet, we have used it`s rotational..." in The Quantum Clock-Maker...
Steve Dufourny: "a general universal clock of evolution irreversible correlated for me with..." in The Quantum Clock-Maker...
Georgina Woodward: "If considering existence rather than appearances, the time dimension..." in Anatomy of spacetime and...
Georgina Woodward: "Thank you. Good luck." in The Nature of Time
Lorraine Ford: "Rob, As you have not replied, I take it that you now concede that the..." in 16th Marcel Grossmann...
RECENT ARTICLES
click titles to read articles
The Quantum Clock-Maker Investigating COVID-19, Causality, and the Trouble with AI
Sally Shrapnel, a quantum physicist and medical practitioner, on her experiments into cause-and-effect that could help us understand time’s arrow—and build better healthcare algorithms.
Connect the Quantum Dots for a New Kind of Fuel
'Artificial atoms' allow physicists to manipulate individual electrons—and could help to reduce energy wastage in electronic devices.
Can Choices Curve Spacetime?
Two teams are developing ways to detect quantum-gravitational effects in the lab.
The Quantum Engine That Simultaneously Heats and Cools
Tiny device could help boost quantum electronics.
The Quantum Refrigerator
A tiny cooling device could help rewrite the thermodynamic rule book for quantum machines.
FQXi FORUM
September 17, 2021
CATEGORY:
The Nature of Time Essay Contest (2008)
[back]
TOPIC: Weakening Gravity's Grip on the Arrow of Time by Maulik Parikh [refresh]
TOPIC: Weakening Gravity's Grip on the Arrow of Time by Maulik Parikh [refresh]
Essay Abstract
The future differs from the past: it has more entropy. No theoretical framework including inflation has yet provided a dynamical origin for this elementary fact, the thermodynamic arrow of time. I argue that by weakening the strength or range of gravity at early times, one can find a natural way to obtain the smooth conditions present in the early universe.
Author Bio
Maulik Parikh is a theoretical high-energy physicist. He did his bachelor's at the University of California at Berkeley followed by a PhD in physics from Princeton University. After post-doctoral stints at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and at Columbia University, he is now faculty at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in India. In 2004 he won the Gravity Research Foundation essay competition for a paper he wrote on black holes.
Download Essay PDF File
The future differs from the past: it has more entropy. No theoretical framework including inflation has yet provided a dynamical origin for this elementary fact, the thermodynamic arrow of time. I argue that by weakening the strength or range of gravity at early times, one can find a natural way to obtain the smooth conditions present in the early universe.
Author Bio
Maulik Parikh is a theoretical high-energy physicist. He did his bachelor's at the University of California at Berkeley followed by a PhD in physics from Princeton University. After post-doctoral stints at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and at Columbia University, he is now faculty at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in India. In 2004 he won the Gravity Research Foundation essay competition for a paper he wrote on black holes.
Download Essay PDF File
Interesting and thought provoking essay.
The thing about analyzing energy in the context of the Big Bang is that energy is due to the symmetry of physics with respect to time (by Noether's theorem). But the Big Bang indicates a lack of symmetry in something, so maybe energy, or gravity, was not conserved.
The thing about analyzing energy in the context of the Big Bang is that energy is due to the symmetry of physics with respect to time (by Noether's theorem). But the Big Bang indicates a lack of symmetry in something, so maybe energy, or gravity, was not conserved.
Dear Dr. Parikh.
It is a pleasant reading your essay. it appears you have examined the problem in a chronological way. You demand the weakening of gravity to start with. It may either be in strength or in range. The later means that there is a saturation aspect attached to it. In this context, it is interesting to examine the initial very short lived inflation of the Universe. Its explanation may well include repulsive nature of gravity at short range that becomes attractive otherwise. This is similar to what has been accepted to be true for the strong nuclear force.
In my essay here, i have tried to provide some perspectives for the early universe. Being a novice in the field, i could contemplate in a more or less unbaised manner, so i feel! can you provide some comments, in spite of your late arrival in this contest?
It is a pleasant reading your essay. it appears you have examined the problem in a chronological way. You demand the weakening of gravity to start with. It may either be in strength or in range. The later means that there is a saturation aspect attached to it. In this context, it is interesting to examine the initial very short lived inflation of the Universe. Its explanation may well include repulsive nature of gravity at short range that becomes attractive otherwise. This is similar to what has been accepted to be true for the strong nuclear force.
In my essay here, i have tried to provide some perspectives for the early universe. Being a novice in the field, i could contemplate in a more or less unbaised manner, so i feel! can you provide some comments, in spite of your late arrival in this contest?
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