In this talk from ETH Zurich’s Workshop on Time in Physics, Bryan Roberts introduces weak interactions and argues that the laws of nature are directed in time

Roberts, Bryan W.

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6/12/2017 Weak interactions and the curious little arrow of time | Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Methodhttp://www.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/blog/2015/12/21/weak­interactions­and­the­curious­little­arrow­of­time/ 1/3Weak interactions and the curious little arrow of timeIn this talk from ETH Zurich’s Workshop on Time in Physics(http://time-workshop.phys.ethz.ch/), Bryan Roberts(http://www.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/people/faculty/#bryan-roberts)introduces weak interactions and argues that the laws of natureare directed in time.A time-asymmetric law is one that distinguishes between the past and future. Some timeasymmetric laws are large and obvious: we always age in the one direction in time,London real estate always go up in one direction in time, etc.But when it comes to describing the most fundamental physical systems, like quarks andelectrons, one normally presumes (in both physics and philosophy textbooks) that thelaws of nature are time-symmetric. That’s a curious convention, because they actuallyaren’t. There is a small but pervasive arrow of time that comes out of the fundamentaldecay processes known as weak interactions. This talk aims to correct that convention. Itis about the curious little arrow of time that arises out of the weak interactions.Bryan Roberts: “Weak interactions and the curious little a…(http://www.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/clock2.jpg)6/12/2017 Weak interactions and the curious little arrow of time | Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Methodhttp://www.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/blog/2015/12/21/weak­interactions­and­the­curious­little­arrow­of­time/ 2/321 December 2015 | Department Blog(http://www.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/blog/category/department-blog/),Philosophy of Physics(http://www.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/blog/category/department-blog/philosophy-of-physics/), Philosophy of Science(http://www.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/blog/category/department-blog/philosophy-of-science/) | 0 Comments(http://www.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/blog/2015/12/21/weak-interactions-and-the-curious-little-arrow-of-time/#respond)Leave A CommentName (required) Email (required) WebsiteBryan Roberts (http://www.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/people/faculty/#bryan-roberts) is an AssistantProfessor in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientiíc Method. To índ out moreabout his work on time asymmetries see his paper, “Three merry roads to T-violation”(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1355219814000872), as well as this post(http://www.soulphysics.org/2014/10/three-merry-roads-to-t-violation/) from his blog, SoulPhysics (http://www.soulphysics.org/). Featured image: CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en)Comment...POST COMMENT Notify me of follow-up comments by email.6/12/2017 Weak interactions and the curious little arrow of time | Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Methodhttp://www.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/blog/2015/12/21/weak­interactions­and­the­curious­little­arrow­of­time/ 3/3

Weak interactions and the curious little arrow of time

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