About the Book

Time played the role of a monotonically increasing evolution parameter in classical Newtonian mechanics. Einstein rejected the Newtonian concept and identified time as the fourth coordinate of a space-time four-vector. Today, scientists are considering different concepts of time as a means of resolving incompatibilities between relativity and quantum mechanics.

For example, some view time as an emergent property of a system rather than a fundamental property. Alternatively, others are considering two temporal variables.

The purpose of this book is to examine the role of time in modern physics.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to the Enigma of Time
2. Time from Prehistory to the Ancient Greeks
3. Time from Ptolemy to Kepler
4. Newton and Maxwell
5. Einstein’s Special Relativity
6. Paradoxes of Special Relativity
7. Gravity and Action at a Distance
8. General Relativity
9. Introduction to Modern Cosmology
10. Evidence for the Expanding Universe
11. Physics of the Subatomic Scale
12. Prelude to the Big Bang
13. The Inflationary Universe
14. Time’s Arrow
15. Time: Death or Rebirth?
16. Historical Time
17. Epilogue – Resolving the Enigma of Time