The direction of time and Boltzmann's time hypothesis

Abstract

This work explores Boltzmann's time hypothesis, which associates the perceived direction of "time flow" with the second law of thermodynamics. We discuss mechanisms that can be responsible for the action of the second law, for directional properties of time and, ultimately, for the perception that past events cause future events. Special attention is paid to possibility of testing these mechanisms in experiments. It is argued that CP-violations known in particle physics may offer such an opportunity. A time-symmetric version of Everett's many-worlds interpretation (which is based on a thermodynamic interpretation of quantum collapses) is given in the Appendix.