Additional Thoughts on Time and Time Travel
by Donne E. Puckle
February 2003
Entropy and time travel.
If linear time (arrow of time = -------------> present to future)
Entropy increases. In order to travel in time from present to future energy would have to be increased, added in order to move forward in time. The greater the time advance, the more energy would be required to overcome entropy. This additional energy would be in addition to whatever energy is needed to compensate for entropy. Entropy would have to be reversed (suspended?). And in order to compensate for entropy, energy from another system would have to be transferred, e.g. as in a refrigeration unit, removal of heat from system A to B, to create cold in A. Once in "future time" how is return to "past present" accomplished?
If linear time (arrow of time = <------------- present to past)
In this case entropy would again have to be reversed. Unlike the past to future where energy has to be added, here "negative" energy must be released into the system to make a greater, better-organized system. Entropy has to be "backed up." The order of the system has to be restored to a previous, prepresent-entropic state.
Questions arising:
If entropy is suspended what happens, if anything can happen? Does all motion cease? Is a state of atemporality initiated?
If entropy continues what effect does this have on the time traveler? Is the traveler’s entropy suspended? Does one "age" either forward or backward depending on the direction of time travel? Once travel has taken place is the "ageing" process reverse to "normal" upon return to the present?
What "moves" during time travel, either from present to past or present to future? What constitutes the "minimum" traveler? What is the extent of the traveler’s environment?
a) The traveler alone
b) The traveler and the time machine
c) The traveler and the machine and immediate surrounding atmosphere
d) All the above plus ______
Does this involve the entire earth? Or entire universe? What must travel and what can be left "behind" in the process?
What effect does time travel have on gravity, the "departure" of the traveler from the present moment/environment? Is gravitational balance upset and to what extent? What changes if the move is from present to future, present to past? What occurs upon return to the present? What effect to the past/future time upon arrival and departure?
If the law of the conservation of mass/energy is binding, what effect does time travel have on the present time/universe?
What is the nature of transition in time travel? Gradual or instantaneous? What is the nature of the disruption? If gradual, does one "age" >? If instantaneous what is the effect on "age"? Does ones "age" change and if so, in what direction and for how long?
Entropy.
A quantity depending on the quantity of heat in a body and on its temperature, which, when multiplied by any lower temperature (minimum available), gives the unavailable energy, or unavoidable waste when mechanical work is derived from the heat energy of the body. Dimension, --[m / 2 t-2 q-1].
Time travel and wormholes.
Given that wormholes provide a "shortcut" through space does this signify a move into the "past"? Observation of a distant star, galaxy, etc. provides evidence of the "past" state. The limitation is based on the speed of light and the distance traveled between points. We do not experience the distant object's "present-to-itself" state. Our present (now) state experiences the past of the object.
Movement through a wormhole would bring the traveler into the "present-to-itself" destination. The traveler would experience a type of "time" travel, getting around the limitations of the speed of light. But the present of the destination would be the same as the present of home. Now/now not movement from present (home) to past (destination). To that end, one would not be able to reach the past of the traveler, as the traveler would always be present to him/herself.
The wormhole "distorts" space/time if the normal state of space/time is at rest or stable. If the wormhole is an anomaly the time traveler using the wormhole will either expand the anomaly, which would cause a further distortion of space/time or be repulsed by the wormhole as an intrusion. Unless protected by the "time machine" the time traveler would suffer the same fate as any other object falling into the wormhole.
Questions arising:
Does entropy enter into the wormhole space/time reality? How can one move to the past through a wormhole if entropy is in effect? Would an infinitely powerful (universal) wormhole be able to take the travelers into "pre-time," the Planck moment (10-43 sec)? If so, how would one return to a non-existent time/now/present?
Is passage through a wormhole possible at all? If the wormhole is created by a "black hole" how does one approach the entrance to the wormhole without being sucked into the black hole and thus be bound by its gravity? No escape would be possible. Time ceases in the black hole.
How does the time traveler control the wormhole? Can he/she make the wormhole large enough to accommodate the traveler? How stable is the wormhole? Is the wormhole two-way or only one-way? How does the traveler control the direction/destination of the wormhole? How does the traveler get to the wormhole in the first place? Can the traveler create a wormhole for him/herself by fiat?
If the "time machine" is self-protecting what effect does that have on the wormhole, black hole, singularity, the universe itself? Can the time traveler leave the self-protection of the time machine?
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