Zenith Grant Awardee
Carlo Rovelli
Samy Maroun Center for Space Time and the Quantum
Project Title
Agency in time-reversal symmetric microphysics
Project Summary
When we take a decision, we affect the future, not the past. In fundamental physics, all distinctions between past and future can be traced to the second law of thermodynamics or similar statistic considerations. In this project, we study the relation between the time asymmetry of decision and the time asymmetry of thermodynamics.
Technical Abstract
Agency is time oriented: we act to affect the future, not the past. This is compatible with the irreversibility we observe in the physical world. It is conceivable, however, that this irreversibility depends on the increase of entropy made possible by past low entropy, or analogous appropriate past conditions. If so, there should a way to ground the behavior we call "agency" in the fact that entropy was low in the past. This connection is, I believe, still unclear, and I aim at clarifying it in this research project.
QSpace Latest
PressRelease: Precision experiment puts pressure on quantum collapse theories
Quantum mechanics, the theory governing the microscopic world, is famously counterintuitive. A particle can exist in a superposition of multiple states, such as different positions, until a measurement is performed. At that point, the wavefunction describing that particle appears to ‘collapse’ to a single outcome. This puzzle lies at the heart of the measurement problem, famously illustrated by Schrödinger’s cat, suspended between life and death until observed. The XENONnT detector, which was designed to be sensitive to rare physics events, has tightened constraints on one family of possible solutions to the measurement problem, known as ‘collapse theories.’ The work, which was partially funded by FQxI, was reported in Physical Review Letters in March 2026. Image credit: XENON Collaboration.