The fluctuations, under time reversal, of the natural time and the entropy distinguish similar looking electric signals of different dynamics

Abstract

We show that the scale dependence of the fluctuations of the natural time itself under time reversal provides a useful tool for the discrimination of seismic electric signals (critical dynamics) from noises emitted from man made sources as well as for the determination of the scaling exponent. We present recent data of electric signals detected at the Earth's surface, which confirm that the value of the entropy in natural time as well as its value under time reversal are smaller than that of the entropy of a "uniform" distribution.