Chaos and the reversibility of time in Newton’s theory of Gravity
Chaos and the reversibility of time in Newton’s theory of Gravity
- Event time: 1:00pm until 2:00pm
- Event date: 22nd June 2023
- Speaker: Simon Portegies Zwart (Leiden University)
- Location: Higgs Centre Seminar Room, Room 4305, James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB) (James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB)) James Clerk Maxwell Building Peter Guthrie Tait Road Edinburgh EH9 3FD GB
Event details
The fundamental laws of physics are time-symmetric, but our macroscopic experience contradicts this. The time reversibility paradox is partly a consequence of the unpredictability of Newton’s equations of motion. We measure the dependence of the fraction of irreversible, gravitational N-body systems on numerical precision and find that it scales as a power law. The stochastic wave packet reduction postulate then introduces fundamental uncertainties in the Cartesian phase space coordinates that propagate through classical three-body dynamics to macroscopic scales within the triple’s lifetime. The spontaneous collapse of the wave function then drives the global chaotic behaviour of the Universe through the superposition of triple systems (and probably multi-body systems). The paradox of infinitesimal granularity arises from the superposition principle, which states that any multi-body system is composed of an ensemble of three-body problems.
Note the unusual weekday (Thursday), usual hour
Event resources
About Higgs Centre colloquia
The Higgs Centre Colloquia are a fortnightly series of talks aimed at a wide-range of topical Theoretical Physics issues..