Multiple time dimensions
The possibility that there might be more than one dimension of time has occasionally been discussed in physics and philosophy. Similar ideas appear in folklore and fantasy literature.
Physics
Speculative theories with more than one time dimension have been explored in physics. The additional dimensions may be similar to conventional time,[1] compactified like the additional spatial dimensions in string theory,[2] or components of a complex time (sometimes referred to as kime).[3]
Itzhak Bars has proposed models of a two-time physics, noting in 2001 that "The 2T-physics approach in d + 2 dimensions offers a highly symmetric and unified version of the phenomena described by 1T-physics in d dimensions."[4][5]
F-theory, a branch of modern string theory, describes a 12-dimensional spacetime having two dimensions of time, giving it the metric signature (10,2).[6]
The existence of a well-posed initial value problem for the ultrahyperbolic equation (a wave equation in more than one time dimension) demonstrates that initial data on a mixed (spacelike and timelike) hypersurface, obeying a particular nonlocal constraint, evolves deterministically in the remaining time dimension.[1]
Like other
Max Tegmark has argued that, if there is more than one time dimension, then the behavior of physical systems could not be predicted reliably from knowledge of the relevant partial differential equations. In such a universe, intelligent life capable of manipulating technology could not emerge. Moreover protons and electrons would be unstable and could decay into particles having greater mass than themselves. (This is not a problem if the particles have a sufficiently low temperature.)[8]
Philosophy
Multiple time dimensions appear to allow the breaking or re-ordering of cause-and-effect in the flow of any one dimension of time. This and conceptual difficulties with multiple physical time dimensions have been raised in modern analytic philosophy.[9]
As a solution to the problem of the subjective passage of time,
The
Literary fiction
Multiple independent timeframes, in which time passes at different rates, have long been a feature of
See also
- Dimensions of spacetime relating to the anthropic principle.
- Multiverse, parallel universes
- Time Cube, a pseudoscientific crank theory of time
References
- ^ ISSN 1364-5021.
- ISBN 9780387776385.
- ^ ISBN 9783110697803.
- ^ Marcus Chown, "Time gains an extra dimension!", New Scientist, 13 October 2007.(Subscription link)
- ^ Itzhak Bars; "U*(1,1) noncommutative gauge theory as the foundation of 2T-physics in field theory", Phys. Rev. D 64 (2001) 126001 ArXiv copy.
- ^ Penrose, Roger. (2004). The Road to Reality. Jonathan Cape. Page 915.
- ISBN 9780201098297.
- S2CID 15694111. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
- ^ Weinstein, Steven. "Many Times". Foundational Questions Institute. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
- ^ McDonald, John Q. (15 November 2006). "John's Book Reviews: An Experiment with Time". Retrieved 8 December 2012.
- ^ J.A. Gunn; The Problem of Time, Unwin, 1929.
- ^ J.B. Priestley, Man and Time, Aldus, 1964.
- ^ Bennett, J. G. (1956). Dramatic Universe.
- ^ Anthony Blake (Ed). The Bohm-Bennett Correspondence, 2016. Online version.
- ^ a b c Flieger, V.; A Question of Time: JRR Tolkien's Road to Faerie, Kent State University Press, 1997.
- ^ Inchbald, Guy; "The Last Serialist: C.S. Lewis and J.W. Dunne", Mythlore, Issue 137, Vol. 37 No. 2, Spring/Summer 2019, pp. 75–88.
External links
- Bars, Itzhak (2010-11-20). "Gauge Symmetry in Phase Space, Consequences for Physics and Spacetime". International Journal of Modern Physics A. 25 (29): 5235–5252. S2CID 119000242.