The Time in Thermal Time

Eugene Y. S. Chua

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arXiv · 2407.18948

The Time in Thermal Time

Eugene Y. S. Chua

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Abstract

Preparing general relativity for quantization in the Hamiltonian approach leads to the `problem of time,' rendering the world fundamentally timeless. One proposed solution is the `thermal time hypothesis,' which defines time in terms of states representing systems in thermal equilibrium. On this view, time is supposed to emerge thermodynamically even in a fundamentally timeless context. Here, I develop the worry that the thermal time hypothesis requires dynamics -- and hence time -- to get off the ground, thereby running into worries of circularity.

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Eugene Y. S. Chua. 2024-07-11. The Time in Thermal Time. https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.18948

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