The Physics of Time: Current Knowledge and Unanswered Challenges

Abstract

In contemporary physics space and time are intertwined entities so that kinematical and dynamical quantities are expressed in the four-dimensional space-time. This formulation seems to contradict our every-day experience and perception according to which space and time are distinct entities. In this brief report we shall discuss these apparently antagonist views and analyse the underlying physical property of time, namely that it evolves from the past to the present, from the present to the future.