Cosmological origin of irreversibility, time, and time anisotropies. I

Abstract

Causal links among the thermodynamic, electrodynamic, and cosmological arrows of time are explained within the framework of a new theory derived from Newtonian gravitation or general relativistic theory. The master asymmetry so derived is employed to deduce the second postulate of thermodynamics in terms of dissipation function or entropic growth. Discussing Olbers' paradox and employing a “laboratory-universe principle of equivalence,” the theory demonstrates how the expansion of our isotropic universe affects all irreversible processes on earth. Gravitation and the observed expanding space become the indirect causes of thermal gradients and irreversible processes channeling energy from planetary and galactic cores, through colder regions, all the way into the unsaturable sink of expanding intergalactic space. The new formulations replace the axiomatic formalisms of classical and continuum thermodynamics. The fundamental role played by the expansion (bulk) viscosity is stressed. Other possible interactions among cosmology, thermodynamics, and electrodynamics are reviewed and analyzed from a new viewpoint.