Will time end, Why, and When?

Illustration of spacetime curvature.

Illustration of spacetime curvature. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The answer to that question depends on what theory you adopt for *time*. In the particular case of the Cordus theory, time is caused by matter, i.e. time is an emergent property of matter, especially discoherent matter.

This is a very different proposition to practically every other  theory of time. The main other theory is to link SPACE and TIME together in the SPACE-TIME concept. This also means that such theories are locked into a concept where time is a continuous variable, and is a dimension. Therein lie a lot of deep problems: first that a continuous or ratio variable is not easy to break into discrete units, and hence the difficulty of reconciling the *time* concepts in general & special relativity with quantum mechanics; second that a dimension implies something that can go backward or forward, and it is not at all apparent that time actually does that, and no one really knows why.

The Cordus theory is different in that it proposes that *time* is the interaction of cause and effect between two pieces of discoherent matter. It provides a natural explanation for the tick of time, rooted in what might generally be considered the de Broglie frequency of matter, and for the one-way direction or arrow of time. The Cordus theory also predicts that time does not work this way for coherent assemblies of matter, which may be falsifiable.  (Coherent matter is a very specialised state of matter that includes superfluids and Bose-Einstein condensates, and is not something that is typically encountered at the macroscopic level of our daily existence).

With that in mind, what does the Cordus theory say about the end of time? Well, with time being a property of matter, it implies that time emerges with matter at genesis, and shares the same fate. Therefore time as we know it will cease when the universe does.

Just how the universe will end is another question altogether. One option is that it will continue to expand, and eventually just wimp out (heat death), in which case Cordus theory predicts time would just slow down to a crawl too. The other option is that the universe collapses in on itself, in which case Cordus theory suggests time would speed up and then suddenly stop altogether. There is a third option, which no-one believes, which is that the universe is static. That seems ruled out by the red-shift.

Those outcomes are unimaginably far into the future, and there are more proximal existential threats to worry about. More interesting to us in the present epoch of the universe, is another curious prediction of the Cordus time theory. This is that there is no time (as we know it) outside the universe, i.e. beyond the cosmological boundary (DOI: http://vixra.org/abs/1303.0017.). This  means that there is no time in the void into which the universe is expanding. Likewise for a being outside the universe (God) there need be no time either (atemporal). There are some interesting philosophical implications of this. We will leave that discussion for another day.

Read more about the Cordus theory here:

Pons, D.J. (2013) What really is time? A multiple-level ontological theory for time as a property of matter. vixra, 1-40 DOI: http://vixra.org/abs/1301.0074.

Pons, D.J. and A.D. Pons (2013) Outer boundary of the expanding cosmos: Discrete fields and implications for the holographic principle vixra (1303.0017), p. 1-26, DOI: http://vixra.org/abs/1303.0017. Available from: http://vixra.org/pdf/1303.0017v1.pdf.

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Which perspective of time is correct: the absolute clock of quantum mechanics or the spacetime of general relativity?

Neither, but in some ways both are adequate for their purposes.  According to the Cordus theory, time at the fundamental level is created by the local frequency of oscillation of the particule. That effect occurs internal to the particule concerned. Such particules include the electron, proton, etc. Since frequency and energy are related, this has the side effect of making time, as perceived at the particule level, speed up or slow down depending on the energy of the particule.

As a separate effect the arrow of time arises from the irreversibility in the interactions between particules.We explain how that irreversibility arises, but the explanation is a bit long for here.

Thus time is locally generated, and Cordus suggests the QM  idea of an absolute clock is only partlycorrect. Also, Cordus suggests that time is a patchwork at the cosmos scale, not a continuous spacetime, thereby not accepting this feature of GR either. However both QM and GR turn out to be approximately correct, at least at the level of detail that concerns them, which is submicroscopic and macroscopic respectively

English: Cordus model of the photon

English: Cordus model of the photon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Cordus theory provides a more primitive mechanics for time that accommodates the thoroughly different models of QM and GR.

Read more here:

Pons, D.J. (2013) What really is time? A multiple-level ontological theory for time as a property of matter. vixra, 1-40 DOI: http://vixra.org/abs/1301.0074.


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Reality and apparent simultaneity

One of the long-standing philosophical questions is whether there is a reality to what humans experience. One of the famously controversial ways to looking at this is the holographic principle, which proposes that everything we experience in 3D is merely a holographic projection of 2D information on the outside surface of the universe.

That raises a second question, which is how my experience of reality is connected and coordinated with yours. This introduces time into the problem. Special relativity (SR) has a principle, in the form of the relativity of simultaneity, that says that the order in time of two spatially separate events cannot be determined  absolutely, but instead depends on the motion of the observer. Thus it is impossible to order two events in time if they occur in different places (hence difference frames of reference).

In our Cordus theory of time, we examine some of these questions. We look at the question of how multiple bodies interact, and how the coordination arises. We have already identified that there is no master clock, but if that is lacking then we still need a coordination mechanism. There is a connectedness of phenomena that are at different geometric locations. It seems that spacetime is continuous, because it seems that it is possible to coordinate the two phenomena in time. We show that the two phenomena are linked, because they share the same fabric.

According to this new perspective, any communication between two objects is a result of photons, or massy particules, or fields, and these cause positional constraints on the other, i.e. the geometric location of the reactive end is affected by the communication. A phenomenon that occurs in one volume of matter, be that combustion, noise, motion, etc,  thereby communicates that to other matter around it. Consider one volume to be my body: my speaking transmits forces to the volume of air immediately around me, which in turn propagates the dynamic displacement throughout its bulk, so that the membrane in your ear is displaced, and you hear the sound.

In general the phenomenon is that one volume of matter causes an effect in the second. The interactions at the most basic level all require frequency cycles, so this causes temporal causality.  Thus we infer:

It is not a master clock that accomplishes the temporal connectedness of phenomena that are at different geometric locations, nor does it require continuity of spacetime per se. The piece-wise communication, via discrete field interactions of the fabric, between adjacent volumes of space (matter and fabric) applies spatial consistency to time.

Any one particule A receives discrete forces (fields) from all the particules (many Bs) in the observable universe. Space within the universe is therefore filled with a mesh of  discrete fields in transit, which in the Cordus theory is termed the fabric.

Fabric time is the mutual interconnectedness of matter particules spread over three-dimensional space. This occurs via the fabric, comprising discrete field forces for electric-magnetic-gravitational interaction. Not strictly a time, this is rather  a coordination of events across space.

In this theory the fabric, and the EMG fields it carries, causes a connectedness between particules. They respond together, even if in a slightly delayed manner as their separation increases. There is therefore a coherence and smoothness to the interaction between particules, mediated by the fabric. The resulting interaction stitches together three-dimensional domains of space (matter and vacuum-fabric) into a macroscopic collated time. This level of time passes more slowly, due to the many tiny delays required for particules to react to each other, given the dissimilar-frequency and phase-differences between the particules.  This, Cordus suggests, is where the arrow-of-time arises,  and what general relativity perceives as spacetime. This is also the macroscopic level of physical time, and hence where our perception of time first arises.

This Cordus concept of 3D fabric affirms the general relativity perspective of spacetime.  It also provides an ontological answer to one of the earlier questions: it suggests that spacetime has a quasi-substantial status (comprises discrete force) but has no universal time-signature per se, and mainly represents merely the relationships between bodies.

Read more about the Cordus time theory here:

Pons, D.J. (2013) What really is time? A multiple-level ontological theory for time as a property of matter. vixra, 1-40 DOI: http://vixra.org/abs/1301.0074.

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Holographic principle

The holographic principle is that the information content of all the matter that has fallen into a black hole can be represented by fluctuations in the surface of the event horizon. Extending this to the universe as a whole, the principle suggests that the two-dimensional (2-D) information on the outside surface of the universe, the cosmological boundary, encodes for the whole three-dimensional (3-D) content of the universe within.

However that is all a bit spooky and weird. Nor is it clear how such a mechanism might work physically. If it were true, it would mean we were all just puppets being controlled from the outside layer of the universe.

Shell structure and the cosmological boundary of the universe as it expands into the void. (Image DPons).

Shell structure and the cosmological boundary of the universe as it expands into the void. (Image DPons). CLICK TO ENLARGE

In this paper we provide a physical interpretation of the holographic principle. We  start by developing an explanation for the vacuum, which is also not all that well understood. In turn that gives us some clues about the composition of  void into which the universe expands. Interestingly, this theory predicts that the outside void is  without time, and explains why. Of course it helps that we have separately developed a theory for how time works, which covers the whole range from subatomic particles, to atomic clocks, to mechanical clocks, to macroscopic bodies, and even to living creatures.

From this perspective the cosmological boundary is therefore the expanding surface where the fabric of the vacuum colonises the void beyond the universe. Thus the cosmological boundary is proposed to contain the discrete field elements of all the primal particules within the universe, and therefore contains information about the attributes of those particules at genesis. Inner shells then code for the changed locations of those particules and any new, or annihilated, particules.

So this theory supports the idea of an outer  boundary or frontier for the expanding universe, and even predicts what is on either side of that boundary.

However it also predicts there is no practical way that anyone could sit at that frontier and control the whole universe. So the theory rejects the  notion of holographic control of inner contents of the universe from the outer surface. (The details about this are in the paper, but basically concern the the infeasibility of placing a physical Agent at the boundary of the universe, and the useless of doing so in the first place). It also rejects the more fanciful holographic notions, e.g.  that the boundary contains information about the future and past, or about all possible universes. The Cordus model suggests that there is no causality (control) from the boundary of the universe to its inner contents. The boundary is merely a historical snap-shot of what the universe was like at genesis.

So you can rest easy: the real you is not merely a flat 2D shape on the outer edge of the universe. According to this theory, there is no-one at the edge of the universe pulling the strings and making you dance.

Read more:

Pons, D.J. and A.D. Pons (2013) Outer boundary of the expanding cosmos: Discrete fields and implications for the holographic principle vixra (1303.0017), p. 1-26, DOI: http://vixra.org/abs/1303.0017. Available from: http://vixra.org/pdf/1303.0017v1.pdf.

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Arrow of time

The ‘arrow of time’ refers to the one-way nature of time. Special and General relativity considers time to be a dimension, as in ‘spacetime’, in which case we should be able to go forward and backward in time, just like we can in the x, y, and z directions of space. But we can’t. Time does not behave like a full dimension. True, we move forward in time, but it is more that time drags us onwards than us voluntary moving forward. Nor can we move backwards in time. We can’t even stay still! We are forced forward along.

So, where does this irreversibility arise? After all, the fundamental physics says that it should be a two-way effect. This is one of the unsolved problems of physics, and has occupied many physicists, thermodynamicists, and philosophers. To be sure, there are a number of solutions, but they are only partial and there is no complete solution.

Here is the solution we have found within the Cordus theory. Remember that the Cordus conjecture is a non-local hidden-variable solution, which means that it proposes that particles have internal structures. By comparision all of conventional physics including quantum mechanics is buit on the assumption that particles are merely zero dimensional points without substance.

The Cordus theory for time proposes that Decoherence is the root cause of the Arrow.

Coherence, according to the Cordus theory, is two  or more particles synchronising their frequencies using the strong force, and this also requires a particular and consistent geometric arrangement. Thus time in coherent bodies, like superfluids and Bose-Einstein condensates, is proposed to be one single time pulse for the whole body.  However, when decoherence occurs, the individual particules are no longer synchronised and instead bond with the much less precise electrostatic force.

Specifically, we propose that the Arrow of Time arises because decoherence causes a time delay to be inserted into the functional interac

The Cordus theory explains the difference between coherent and decoherent (discoherent) objects. It then uses this to construct a theory for time, including the irreversibility thereof (arrow of time).

The Cordus theory explains the difference between coherent and decoherent (discoherent) objects. It then uses this to construct a theory for time, including the irreversibility thereof (arrow of time). (Click to see larger image)

tion of two or more domains (objects) of matter – whether or not those domains are individually coherent. This because the frequencies of the fundamental particules differ, so the faster oscillating domain will have to mark more ticks (hence more of its local time) before the slower responds. Since there is geometric separation, however small, then the finite speed of field propagation (c, speed of light) adds a further time delay. Consequently the one domain generally has done something different, e.g. responded to a third domain, before the second has fully responded. Therefore getting domains back into their initial positions becomes unlikely and statistically impossible as the number of participating domains increases. So what happens stays happened, and does not naturally self-repair. We sum this up as follows:

Decoherent assembly time is irreversible, hence the arrow of time arises at this level. This is because  the interaction between subassemblies is practically irreversible due to intervening changes, propagation delays, and the complexity of large number of participating particules. This is also where and why entropy arises.

Hence classical mechanics and decoherence arise at the same point in the assembly tree of matter. The macroscopic perception of time arises at the same point, as does entropy.

While reversibility seems feasible at simple levels, we never see this for macroscopic bodies. This is because such bodies are decoherent. More accurately, their relationship with their external environment is decoherent even if their internal bonding arrangements are coherent.

Macroscopic bodies invariably have decoherent relationships between them. Such bodies, regardless of whether they are internally governed by coherent or decoherent relationships (bonds), interact inelastically with their environment, in that such bodies do not return to precisely their initial states. Inability for one body to return thereby means that all the other bodies in the accessible universe cannot either, because the fabric of background discrete forces has been changed.

Read more about the Cordus time theory here:

Pons, D.J. (2013) What really is time? A multiple-level ontological theory for time as a property of matter. vixra, 1-40 DOI: http://vixra.org/abs/1301.0074.

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How does time-dilation work?

Schematic representation of asymmetric velocit...

Schematic representation of asymmetric velocity time dilation. The animation represents motion as mapped in a Minkowski space-time diagram, with two dimensions of space, (the horizontal plane) and position in time vertically. The circles represent clocks, counting lapse of proper time. The Minkowski coordinate system is co-moving with the non-accelerating clock. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We have an alternative way to explain this effect.

First, some background. Time-dilation is when clocks at different locations run at different speeds,  because of the different conditions at the two locations. Specifically, time passes slower in regions of  higher gravity (and faster in lower gravity). Likewise time runs slower for systems with higher acceleration, and faster in lower acceleration.

This has nothing to do with errors in the clocks. Nor does it matter what type of clock is used, mechanical or atomic. Instead time really does run differently, and it affects life itself. It is somewhat weird to think that your feet (which are in a slightly higher gravitational field) age slower than your head, but nonetheless your body still holds together! OK, the differences are not great, but it is the principle that counts. And the twin-paradox is downright spooky too.

The usual explanations for this involve the Lorentz equations, which allow the effect to be represented mathematically and quantified. But a deep explanation of what *is* time dilation is still lacking. It’s thought to be a property of spacetime, but that is only a partial explanation as spacetime itself is a mathematical model.

Moving beyond mathematical models and into ontological explanations is what the Cordus conjecture does well, and here again we have an alternative explanation. This offers an explanation of how time-dilation occurs at the subatomic level and then scales up to chemical bonds and ultimately to the mechanics of moving clock-hands and the physiology of living bodies.

For a start, we accept that time dilation does occur, and we accept also that atomic clocks do show a physical representation of that effect (as opposed to some other effect). Then we apply the Cordus model, whereby each particule has two ends which are energised in turn at its frequency. Now, (this next bit is important) energisation involves pushing discrete forces out into the external environment. So the frequency at which  this happens is affected by the conditions in the external environment. That external environment is the 3D world beyond the particule, and it does not matter if it is only a vacuum. (The Cordus fabric is the substitute concept for the spacetime of general relativity).

The external environment is what we call the fabric, and it comprises the discrete forces of all the other particules in the observable universe. All of which are likewise trying to push out discrete forces at their own individual frequencies. So what this Cordus theory offers is a way to understand the causality from the inner workings of the particle (the hidden-variables), to the discrete forces being produced at a frequency, to the cumulative effect (fields) of many particules affecting each other. The important insight provided by the Cordus theory is that the causality works in the reverse direction too. Thus the fabric, which is the cumulative effect of the discrete forces of many particules, has a way to cause the frequency of one particule to change. If we also adopt the Cordus idea that frequency *is* time for the particule concerned, then an explanation for time dilation is immediately  available.  Here it is:

The Cordus theory of time provides a mechanism whereby the external environment can push back in and affect the frequency of the particule. The proposed mechanism is as follows. An encounter with greater fabric density causes the frequency of a particule to slow down, hence time runs slower. This is because the high density of external discrete forces makes it difficult for the particule to emit its own discrete forces > emission is retarded >  energisation of reactive end is delayed > frequency lengthens.

It is known from general relativity that a body experiences time dilation in any of the following three situations: relativistic velocity, or acceleration, or in a high gravitation field. According to the Cordus time theory, all these are situations of  greater fabric density: the first because the fast-moving particule is at a speed approaching that of the fabric itself and therefore emission of the particule’s discrete forces is resisted (from the perspective of the particule, the external fabric is saturated),  the second because the accelerating particule emits discrete forces which it then moves into, thus creating its own locally high fabric density, and the third because high gravitation field is intrinsically a high external fabric density. In all these situations higher fabric density causes slowing of time. So Cordus also provides a single underlying mechanism for why these three situations are equivalent.

So to summarise, we have a mechanism to explain why the frequency of a particule is affected by velocity, acceleration, or gravitational field. How then does time dilation occur? Well, that’s also easy to explain, though it needs another piece of the Cordus theory. This is that the frequency of a particle determines the moments in time at which its discrete forces are available to interact with other particules. Particules only interact via their discrete forces. Those interactions are the basis for the strong force, chemical bonds, and the electro-magnetic-gravitational forces. (Cordus also provides a theory for the unification of the forces/interactions.) In turn these interactions determine the atomic structure, chemistry, kinetics and kinematics of the particule. And physiology is built on chemistry.

So anything, like fabric density,  that changes the frequency of a particule automatically changes the frequency of all of the mechanics, chemistry, and even life processes, with which that particule is engaged. This is what the fabric does, and it does it to whole assemblies of matter at once. Higher fabric density slows down the frequencies of all the particules in the object in that volume of space. And since, according to the Cordus theory, time  for a particule (or bonded assembly of particules) is nothing more than its frequency, when the frequency changes the passage of time also changes.

So that is why time-dilation is not simply a measurement effect, or a problem with mechanical time-pieces. Instead it slows down (or speeds up) the passage of time for all particules in that volume of space.

This understanding of time-dilation requires the Cordus theories for:

  • Frequency and internal structure of particules
  • discrete forces,
  • strong force
  • force unification,
  • time at the level of single particules
  • fabric concept

The existing theories of physics do not have this breadth of coverage, so if all of these really are necessary to explain time-dilation then one can see why Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity would struggle to explain it.

This Cordus explanation applies equally to a living body experiencing time-dilation. Thinking is a chemical process and Aging is a physiological process of chemical degradation, so any process that slows the frequency of the components of the atoms will also slow time. But this is no solution for longevity, because such a person would not experience any advantage, because their thoughts and movements would also be slowed. They would not be able to do anything more with their time. The only effect is that they would notice on meeting is that other people’s histories were compressed (or stretched).

Read more here:

Pons, D.J. (2013) What really is time? A multiple-level ontological theory for time as a property of matter. vixra, 1-40 DOI: http://vixra.org/abs/1301.0074.

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Where did time come from?

The Cordus theory of time suggests that time started when the universe started.

To the level to which Cordus can penetrate, time is a consequence of the frequency oscillations of particules.  Its rate is thus determined by the mass of the particule, in turn how it is assembled and from what subcomponents. In that sense even massless particules (photon, neutrino) have frequency and therefore time. However the forward arrow of time arises where coherence lets off and decoherence starts. This discontinuity in the physics of time occurs at different levels of assembly depending on temperature and homogeneity. Time therefore comes from the frequency oscillation of matter, which in turn comes from the primal photon(s) at genesis.

Read more here:

Pons, D.J. (2013) What really is time? A multiple-level ontological theory for time as a property of matter. vixra, 1-40 DOI: http://vixra.org/abs/1301.0074.

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