Arrowed Time and Cyclic Time

Wenjun Luo

The contradiction between the thermodynamic arrow of time and microscopic dynamical reversibility is a core problem in statistical physics. Within the framework of connectivity engineering, this paper proposes a new mechanism: irreversible accumulation of subsystem entropy caused by topological quenching. We numerically simulate the cyclic switching of a one-dimensional spin network between topological steps k=1 and k=4. Results show that each switch from the highly connected state to the frustrated state leads to an irreversible "fall" of information into the local entanglement space; when switched back to the initial topology, the subsystem entanglement entropy cannot recover to its initial value, but instead surges from 0 to approximately 2.96 and remains in the saturation regime, exhibiting a unidirectional entropy accumulation. Since the theoretical maximum entropy of this subsystem is 3.0, this irreversible saturation directly reveals the limit of information coarse-graining. The above results prove that the microscopic origin of the arrow of time is precisely the information scrambling caused by the irreversibility of underlying geometric topological reconstruction.

Zura Kakushadze

Richard Joseph Oldani

We show time reversal asymmetry in quantum mechanics by isolating a single, solitary hydrogen atom in a black body, deriving from it the diagonalized Hamiltonian matrix in continuous time, and using it to visualize the irreversibility of the emission and absorption of radiation. Graphic evidence in support of the model is obtained from experiments performed with the simplest quantum system, an electron cyclotron. The experimental evidence is used to obtain equations of motion to describe time asymmetry with respect to the energy-time conjugate variables in linear time which complement the time symmetric equations of motion in position-momentum coordinates given with respect to cyclical time. Theoretical arguments by Feynman and Einstein are shown to support time reversal asymmetry.

Gerald F. Thomas

Xingwei Zhang

This paper proposes an ontological framework for quantum cosmology based on a single core postulate: the global state of the universe is a unique, determinate, frozen pure state in Hilbert space, encoding all possible quantum correlations. The perceived flowing spacetime, probabilities, and irreversibility arise from the reduction of this global state to local subsystems (emergence of entanglement entropy). The framework unifies the emergence of spacetime, the invariance of the speed of light, and the arrow of time. It solves the "problem of time" via the Page–Wootters mechanism, explains cyclic orthogonality through conformal cyclic cosmology, and contrasts with mainstream interpretations by its radical parsimony. Four testable conjectures are derived, covering CMB anomalies, primordial gravitational waves, Planck-scale cosmic ray correlations, and coherence anomalies in macroscopic quantum systems. The conclusions are rigorously derived in appendices using de Sitter group theory, holographic entropy bounds, and open quantum systems. A quantum circuit simulation verifies the scaling relation.