Analysis of the distinct meanings of the notion of «time», in different physical theories
Analysis of the distinct meanings of the notion of «time», in different physical theories
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不同物理理论中“时间”概念的不同含义分析
DOI：
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发表时间：
1995
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
C. Rovelli
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
C. Rovelli
关于时间概念的问题最近引起了广泛的兴趣。其中包括：时间在量子引力中的作用，广义相对论中内部时间的选择，“时间之箭”的起源，以及宇宙学中的时间不对称性。这些问题往往与时间概念的不同方面有关；然而，不幸的是，在不同的问题上使用相同的术语往往会导致混乱的讨论，并且理解或改变一个概念作为时间概念的问题的复杂性可能被低估了。在这里，我们分析了这个概念在不同理论中所扮演的不同角色：我们发现了十种不同版本的时间概念，它们都用于自然科学，以不同的性质或属性为特征，归因于时间。我们提出一个通用的术语来表达这些差异。此外，我们观察到不同的时间概念是按层次排列的，在某种意义上，时间的复杂属性只有在处理越来越特殊的自然系统时才成为必要，我们从这一观察中得出一些关于时间概念在基本层面上的意义的推测。
SummaryProblems concerning the concept of time have recently generated a widespread interest. Among these: the role of time in quantum gravity, the choice of an internal time in general relativity, the origin of the «arrow of time», and the time asymmetry in cosmology. These problems often pertain to distinct aspects of the notion of time; unfortunately, however, the use of identical terms for different issues leads often to a confused discussion, and the complexity of the problem of understanding or altering a notion as the notion of time is perhaps underestimated. Here, we analyze the distinct roles that this notion plays in different theories: We find ten distinct versions of the concept of time, all used in the natural sciences, characterized by different properties, or attributes, ascribed to time. We propose a general terminology to express these differences. In addition, we observe that the different notions of time are hierarchically arranged, in the sense that complex attributes of time become necessary only in dealing with progressively more special natural systems, and we derive from this observation some speculations on the significance of the notion of time at the fundamental level.