The "Thermodynamic" Universe

Abstract

Much of the twentieth century physics has considered rigid laws-- even Quantum Mechanics and Statistical Mechanics were based on such laws. These laws operated in a smooth spacetime manifold. However more recent approaches as in Quantum Gravity schemes or Quantum Super String theory deal with a non differentiable spacetime manifold. With this we have to consider the new paradigm of Dark Energy of Zero Point Field. The picture that now emerges is that of a universe that is ``Thermodynamic''. We investigate how this can explain phenomenon like the velocity of light and also provide tests for experimental verification.