TY - JOUR
T1 - Is the (3 + 1)-d nature of the universe a thermodynamic necessity?
AU - Gonzalez-Ayala, Julian
AU - Cordero, Rubén
AU - Angulo-Brown, F.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© CopyrightEPLA, 2016.
PY - 2016/2
Y1 - 2016/2
N2 - It is well established that at early times, long before the time of radiation-matter density equality, the universe could have been well described by a spatially flat, radiation only model. In this article we consider the whole primeval universe, as a first approach, as a black-body radiation system in an n-dimensional Euclidean space. We propose that the (3 + 1)-dimensional nature of the universe could be the result of a thermodynamic selection principle stemming from the second law of thermodynamics. In regard to the three spatial dimensions we suggest that they were chosen by means of the minimization of the Helmholtz free energy per hypervolume unit following possibly a kind of broken symmetry process, while the time dimension, as is well known, is related with the principle of increment of entropy for closed systems: the so-called arrow of time.
AB - It is well established that at early times, long before the time of radiation-matter density equality, the universe could have been well described by a spatially flat, radiation only model. In this article we consider the whole primeval universe, as a first approach, as a black-body radiation system in an n-dimensional Euclidean space. We propose that the (3 + 1)-dimensional nature of the universe could be the result of a thermodynamic selection principle stemming from the second law of thermodynamics. In regard to the three spatial dimensions we suggest that they were chosen by means of the minimization of the Helmholtz free energy per hypervolume unit following possibly a kind of broken symmetry process, while the time dimension, as is well known, is related with the principle of increment of entropy for closed systems: the so-called arrow of time.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84962317225&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1209/0295-5075/113/40006
DO - 10.1209/0295-5075/113/40006
M3 - Artículo
SN - 0295-5075
VL - 113
JO - EPL
JF - EPL
IS - 4
M1 - 40006
ER -