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Mirrors and the Direction of Time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Frank Arntzenius
Frank Arntzenius*
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
*
†Department of Philosophy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0451.
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Abstract

The frequencies with which photons pass through half-silvered mirrors in the forward direction of time is always approximately 1/2, whereas the frequencies with which photons pass through mirrors in the backward direction in time can be highly time-dependent. I argue that whether one should infer from this time-asymmetric phenomenon that time has an objective direction will depend on one's interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Type
Symposium: New Work on Time's Arrow
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 64 , Issue S4: Supplement. Proceedings of the 1996 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers Dec., 1997 , 1997 , pp. S213 - S222
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1997

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References

Arntzenius, F. (1995), “Indeterminism and the Direction of Time” Topoi 14: 67–81.10.1007/BF00763480CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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