Preprint Article Version 2 This version is not peer-reviewed

# On the Arrow of Spacetime

Version 1 : Received: 14 October 2018 / Approved: 15 October 2018 / Online: 15 October 2018 (12:54:32 CEST)
Version 2 : Received: 19 November 2018 / Approved: 20 November 2018 / Online: 20 November 2018 (12:10:26 CET)

How to cite: Harvey-Tremblay, A. On the Arrow of Spacetime. Preprints 2018, 2018100311 (doi: 10.20944/preprints201810.0311.v2). Harvey-Tremblay, A. On the Arrow of Spacetime. Preprints 2018, 2018100311 (doi: 10.20944/preprints201810.0311.v2).

## Abstract

Consistent with special relativity and statistical physics, here we construct a partition function of space-time events. The union of these two theories resolves longstanding problems regarding time. We will argue that it augments the standard description of time given by the (non-relativistic) arrow of time to one able to describe the past, the present and the future in a manner consistent with our macroscopic experience of such. First, using Fermi-Dirac statistics, we find that the system essentially describes a "waterfall" of space-time events. This "waterfall" recedes in space-time at the speed of light towards the direction of the future as it "floods" local space with events that it depletes from the past. In this union, an observer $\mathcal{O}$ will perceive two horizons that can be interpreted as hiding events behind them. The first is an event horizon and its entropy hides events in the regions that $\mathcal{O}$ cannot see. The second is a time horizon, and its entropy "shields" events from $\mathcal{O}$'s causal influence. As only past events are "shielded" and not future events, an asymmetry in time is thus created. Finally, future events are hidden by an entropy prohibiting $\mathcal{O}$ from knowing the future before the present catches on.

## Subject Areas

statistical physics; special relativity; arrow of time