TFNR - Chaos / order (im)balance: entropy and negentropy
Entropy is a very complex concept, ubiquitous and transversal to many fields of physics and other sciences. There are many definitions of this concept that is in some ways nuanced and difficult to master. Many papers would be needed just for this term. Here obviously I must limit myself to some more relevant references for the topics we are dealing with, in particular Information and Energy.
In thermodynamics Entropy is commonly defined as a measure of disorder or randomness / unpredictability of a system. A measure of the unavailable energy in a closed thermodynamic system. The amount of loss in a system's ability to do work. A property of the state of the system, inversely related to the temperature of the system.
This definition, while correct, is too general and vague. Oversimplifying leads to a misunderstanding of other related key concepts, especially Information and Energy, Organization, Complexity. Chaos is not always associated with high levels of entropy and there are unpredictable systems that maintain organized patterns within them that manifest some level of order. I will not dwell here on illustrating and examining the various definitions, but will only report a few notes and thoughts on the fundamental aspects. I'm not sure if these notes are correct. But at this time that's all I can say. As I said, it is a very complex and multifaceted topic. I hope I'm not writing too much nonsense.
Among the most relevant keywords to understand this term we can find: chaos, disorder, randomness, order, predictability, organization, disorganization, concentration, distribution, configuration, diffusion, information, energy, systems, components, states, degrees of freedom, possibility, potentiality, evolution, complexity. All interconnected concepts, which, in the model I am trying to outline, take on precise meanings, even very far from those attributed to them in common parlance or in the language of conventional science.
In my opinion, one of the fundamental keys to defining and understanding the meaning of the term Entropy and its "opposite" Negentropy is the concept of "inomogeneity" (which is also, and I would say obviously, the key word to understand the concepts of Information and Energy) and the related concepts of non-uniformity, distance from homogeneity, tension towards the restoration of homogeneity, etc.
Meanings and definitions must be contextualized with reference to the various levels of Reality / complexity, as they can vary significantly. It is also important to consider the relationships between Entropy at the various levels of complexity, and the relationships between the levels themselves.
Entropy can be zero at a higher level of complexity, while it can be very high at a lower level. A system can be extremely disordered, for example a high-temperature gas where the movements of the molecules appear completely random and so is their distribution, but at the same time the components of the system are individually, internally, in highly ordered / organized states, for example the individual atoms of that same gas. The system as a whole, the gas, is not characterized by usable energy, while the individual atoms could be used to produce energy through the exploitation of their pressure, or their combustion or through nuclear fission, etc.
Entropy and inhomogeneity
Can we imagine redefining Entropy as the tendency of Nature to restore homogeneity? Said in terms of Evolutionary Dynamics (which tries to describe how Reality and the Universe incessantly emerge from probabilistic chaos, the mark of the incessant continuous creativity and evolutivity of the Source), the tendency of the Field to react to the Action of the Force that creates inhomogeneity. Re-Action of the Field that tends to restore homogeneity, opposed to the Action of the Force that produces inhomogeneity.
Homogeneity, or the minimum level of inhomogeneity. Or, in terms of conventional physics, the lowest energy state. Literal translation: lowest amount of inhomogeneity, at the precise level of Reality / Complexity that we are examining, of course. At other levels, in parallel, the dynamics can be different and so the situation of greater or lesser inhomogeneity.
Entropy and uncertainty
The concept of Entropy is strongly linked to that of uncertainty, unpredictability, non-knowledge and non-knowability. Chaos and uncertainty are the primordial soup from which Existence incessantly springs. And order and determination are the opposite pole towards which the constructive (negentropic) processes that produce the Essence / Form of Reality tend, and from which the deconstructive / transformative (entropic) processes move away and reach out again towards chaos and indeterminacy. It is between these two opposites, in this creative and evolutionary imbalance, in this infinite and eternal "metabolic" cycle of Information, that the growing Complexity of Reality that we incessantly observe is formed.
Entropy and Information / Energy
The relationships between Entropy and Information / Energy are multiple and complex, and even within a general framework, they differ greatly in the various fields of study and application. Here too, let's try to make some reflections:
- Entropy as degree of disorder or uncertainty in a system, a definition that comes from thermodynamics: a measure of the unavailable energy in a closed thermodynamic system, a measure of the system's disorder, a property of the system's state, and that varies directly with any reversible change in heat in the system and inversely with the temperature of the system,
- we can think of Entropy in relation to the quantity of Information needed to completely describe a system, the missing information to describe that system (the system in its entirety, all the parts and the relations between them, and their evolution in Time, etc.), to determine its precise microscopic (quantum)mechanical state,
- or think of it as the path towards complete uniformity, a state of minimal Information, minimal Energy available for use,
- or again, a trend towards the degradation of the matter and energy in the Universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity, of disorder and thermal death.
We have referred several times to the "quantity" of Information, but not to its "quality". In fact, this aspect is generally neglected (or avoided?) by the most rigorous and formalized disciplines, as it is difficult to measure and treat mathematically. If for the most elementary forms of Energy the qualitative aspects can be neglected (as a certain homogeneity prevails that keeps the complexity low), for more complex forms of Energy and especially for Information (quantum and classical) the qualitative aspect representing complexity becomes very important. The concept of Complexity, of levels of Complexity and of quality of Information become central.
Neglecting these aspects means leaving aside a fundamental point of view on Physical Reality and losing along the way the possibility of knowing the physical world more deeply. As already underlined several times during this work, even levels of Reality that conventional physics considers more elementary (e.g. an electron, a photon, etc.) are objects, or rather extremely complex physical processes, structures characterized by dynamics, internal and external, that are anything but trivial.
With reference to the Evolutionary Dynamics object of this work, and in particular to the representation of the fundamental physical processes in terms of Elementary Action, we must take into account all its components, Perturbation, Translation and the two sub-components of Rotation, responsible for the fundamental physical quantities (characterizations of Information / Energy): position in Space-time, Mass, Motion, Charge and Spin, and the related phenomena, metric, gravitational, kinetic, electric and magnetic, and all their combinations that produce more complex forms of derived Energy (e.g. nuclear interactions).
The state of a system can be characterized by a high level of disorder, of Entropy at the electric / magnetic level, but be highly ordered, and therefore have low entropy, from the Metric (geometric) and Mass distribution point of view, and therefore from the gravitational point of view. Therefore, a large amount of Information is needed to describe the system from the electromagnetic point of view, and a low amount from the gravitational point of view. We must not be distracted by the fact that the concept of Entropy was born in the last century in the field of classical physics, in particular of thermodynamics, and was further developed in the field of what is (improperly) called theory of information, but which in fact should be defined as communication theory. Even in the case of the term / concept of Entropy, nothing simple, elementary. Here too, complexity and uncertainty!
Another consideration. It is commonly believed that the more ordered a system is, the less information is needed to describe it, so the lower is the Entropy. In general, I disagree. There can be situations of this type. But this statement would suggest that the opposite situation, highly chaotic and unpredictable systems, necessarily requires a lot of information to describe the states of the system. In my opinion, it does not take into account the fact that, if the internal dynamics are characterized by a substantial stochastic independence, the amount of Information necessary to describe the states of the system is still low, in particular if the distributions of the chaotic fluctuations are homogeneous (the distributions, not the fluctuations themselves, which obviously as chaotic fluctuations cannot be).
So, in my opinion, when talking about Entropy, it is not enough to consider the two opposites, chaos and order, but it is necessary to refer to the level of organization of the system, linked to the correlations between the dynamics of the components of the system. We can have systems far from the extremes of chaos and order, with peaks of organization, complexity, quantity and quality of Information, with low Entropy. And systems close to the extremes, highly chaotic or ordered, with low complexity, low level of organization, minimal Information.
Rather than the chaos / order balance, we should look at the balance, or imbalance, between homogeneity / inhomogeneity. This is where the game for Entropy and Information is played, and in "less complex" systems, for "usable" Energy, with low Entropy, next to "used" Energy, with high Entropy.
Entropy and Evolution
From talking about Information / Energy and Complexity, to talking about Evolution the step is short. Evolution is Dynamics of Information and formation / construction of Complexity.
Keeping in mind what has been said above, we can add that Entropy, its general tendency to growth that goes under the name of the second law of Thermodynamics, seems to be an obstacle to Evolution. Once again I bring attention to the fact that constructive, organizing, anti-entropic processes are not taken into due consideration. If they did not exist, if they were not incessantly at work, nothing would exist. Only absolute and eternal chaos. Constructive processes (the reason because in the Universe something exists) represent the mark of the Action on the Force on the Field, Causality that produces Variationality.
So, next to the second law of thermodynamics, there is another that, in apparent competition, but in actual cooperation, regulates the incessant Evolution of Reality. Laws, or principles, embodied respectively by the two evolutionary Reality Operators: Organization and Transformation. The first builds new Information (more quantity) and Complexity (higher quality) starting from less complex Information, the second destroys Information (less quantity) and Complexity (lower quality), producing less complex Information starting from more complex Information.
It is a cycle, continuous, incessant, the Cycle of Information, the evolutionary engine of Reality. The third Operator, Selection, produces "causal and variational permanence". In ordinary terms, the interaction of the new with what already exists selects what, suitable, compatible, can survive and evolve further. From Elementary Events, to the most fundamental Relations, to the Processes, increasingly complex, that we observe as Particles, Waves, Structures, Forms, objects, living beings, stars, galaxies and so on.
So, Entropy, disorder, as a source of new material, "substance", for the construction of new Complexity, in an ever unstable balance between organizing processes oriented towards order and processes oriented towards chaos. The key to Evolution!
Entropy and Complexity
I'm repeating what I've already said... These two terms, both linked to the concept of organization, are very different and should not be confused. As we will see in the next section, the term Complexity refers to quantitative and especially qualitative aspects of Information, and therefore of Energy, which represents an elementary form of it. While the term Entropy, as well as its opposite Negentropy, refers to the Chaos - Order balance within a system, which can be more or less complex.
Entropy and Space
We always talk about the relationship between Entropy and Time, the Arrow of Time, and so on. The relationship between Entropy and Space seems less evident. Yet it exists, and it is relevant. Fundamental, I would say.
And the meaning of this relationship depends on how we understand Space. In this work we have presented Space as the expression of Spatial Dimensionality, one of the two (complementary) manifestations of Variationality, the passive aspect of the Agency of the Primary Source of Reality, which is flanked and interpenetrated with the active aspect, Causality. Everything that happens and exists in the physical world is represented by inhomogeneities, deformations (Variationality) of the Elementary Field under the Action (product of the Agency: Events, Existence, Creation) of the Fundamental Form (Causality). Events whose correlations (Relations, Essence / Form, Evolution) in their inhomogeneities constitute and incessantly build emergent complexity, in the infinite Formation of Reality and the Universe.
Spatial fluctuations (distances, areas, volumes) resonating around the Planck spatial scale, whose temporal distributions together with the spatial distributions of their stress and torsion components represent the "elementary substance" of which Reality is made, the Elementary Action in its three components (Perturbation, Translation and Rotation). Spatial organization of the correlations of temporal distributions. Space and Time, different dimensionality, but linked in an indissoluble deep embrace, which constitutes the foundation of everything that exists.
If Space, the temporal distribution of its infinitesimal fluctuations, the spatial inhomogeneities of the correlations of such destructions, are the substance from whose organization everything is made of, it is evident that the theme of Entropy is central. I remember that at the scales closest to us, and up to infinity, in the model proposed here, we assume that Space is flat, zero curvature, while Time is curved, and as described by the Principle of General Equivalence, the curvature of Time represents Mass in its two forms: Negative Mass, the attractive Mass that we know well, and positive, the repulsive Mass, which is called Dark Energy.
Wherever we speak of "Organization" (of Events, Relations, Processes), we obviously speak of the tension between the opposites "chaos" and "order", of the unstable balance between constructive and destructive / transformative processes, creative disequilibrium that enpowers Evolution towards Complexity. Therefore, organization of elementary spatial fluctuations, spatial organization of the correlations of their temporal distributions, of their spatial stress and torsion directionalities. Organization that ranges from the "chaos" of the absolute homogeneity of the correlations of the temporal distributions of the unstructured Elementary Field of the quantum Vacuum, to the "order" of the structured Field, up to the extremes of the most massive and compact Particles and of Matter condensed in a black hole.
Also for Space, which is a continuum and not a discrete object, therefore, what is valid is that of Entropy in general and in particular for systems composed of (a multitude) of parts, of components (e.g. thermodynamic systems, communication systems of discrete signals, etc.). In fact, even Space, despite being a continuous phenomenon, expression of the dynamics of the continuous Elementary Field, is formed by a multitude. Not of objects, parts or components of a system, but of Events and Relations that organize them in a universal Process that we perceive as Space.
And now let's look at the complex relationship between Time and Entropy...
Entropy and Time
I will not repeat what has already been said above or what is commonly reported on this subject. I will only say that I believe this is the central point of the matter, and that I do not share the view that finds in thermodynamic entropy the reason for the arrow of time.
Entropy, whose manifestations we see in our daily life (the glass that falls, breaks and does not spontaneously recompose, the coffee that mixes with milk and does not separate anymore, our body that ages and does not rejuvenate, the car that wears out and needs to be repaired or replaced, the more or less probable states, etc.) makes the flow of Time evident to us, but it is not the reason.
The origin of Time is much deeper. It is not in the Forms, in the objects, in the complex levels of the more or less organized Matter of thermodynamic systems, nor in the dynamics of the Structures that we recognize as Particles and Waves, in the dynamics of quantum objects, in quantum entropy therefore.
The origin of Time, in my opinion, as for Space, is to be found in the Dynamics of the Elementary Field. In particular, in the temporal distributions of elementary spatial fluctuations in resonance around the Planck scale. Time emerges and re-emerges incessantly from the dynamics of these ever-changing ripples of the Elementary Field, over average distances of about 10^-35 meters and average times of about 10^-44 seconds. Variations of distances, areas, volumes that are truly small and that occur in absolutely short times, I would say inconceivably short for us who live in a world that seems excessively fast to us, but that compared to the "processing times" in the factory of Reality are very long, dilated, immensely extended.
If we expressed the durations of events familiar to us in terms of times of the Planck scale, we would realize the dimensional abyss that separates us from these infinitesimal vibrations. A blink of an eye, which is also used as an image to indicate a very short time, lasts approximately 0.1 to 0.4 seconds. For simplicity, let's take 0.1 seconds, or 10^-1 seconds. In this seemingly short amount of time, a lenght, a distance of 10^-35 meters ( 0.000000000000000000000000000000000001 , there are 35 zeros after the decimal point before the 1, expressed like this, this infinitesimal distance seems even smaller) oscillates by an even shorter (much shorter) distance 10^43 times (in that one tenth of a second). Here too, to get a more precise idea of what 10^43 means, let's try to write it in its full estension: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (one followed by 42 zeros).
Impressive, right?!? And even if we move to the world of Particles, Waves, quanta, the gap narrows, but remains impressive: about 20 orders of magnitude (20 zeros!) for the differences in length and about 26 orders for the duration.
And again... If we wanted to express the duration of our life (for convenience let's use a round figure, an average duration of 75 years, quite close to the data provided by international organizations) in terms of the order of magnitude of the dynamics of the Elementary Field we should say that our life, on average, lasts 10^42 the average time in which the fluctuations of average distances in resonance around the Planck scale occur (about 2.4 x 10^9 seconds in 75 years, an average time of 10^-44 seconds per fluctuation, about 53 orders of magnitude, 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 , 53 zeros after the 1). So it really makes an impression. Our life seems like an infinite time. And instead, for us who live through our perceptions in a world of spatial dimensions and durations of temporal events incredibly vast compared to the fundamental ones, life seems to pass in the blink of an eye. Isn't that amazing?
This is mainly due to the combined effect of the characteristics our perceptive functions and the particular multilevel structure of Reality. Levels of Reality and, within these, levels of Complexity, nested and twisted, to form the complex plot of Reality that we perceive, of which we are part. We are not aware of it, but our life happens and is possible precisely thanks to everything that happens at all the other levels (of Reality and Complexity), to everything that happens at all orders of magnitude, from less infinite to more infinite, lower and higher than the spaces and times that are familiar to us.
Resuming a very fashionable mantra (but which in fact finds its evident foundation in the profound unity of Reality at the level of the Primary Source, and of its fundamental manifestations, the Force and the Field) everything is one, everything is united, everything is somehow connected with everything else (causal and variational connection: Force and Field, Cause and Variation, Force and Space-time). Immense differentiation (inomogeneity) incessantly emerging from an immense homogeneity generated and shaken by an infinite and eternal Force.
So, in the context of this work, what does Entropy have to do with Time, or rather, Time with Entropy? Let's try to summarize and complete.
We see Time flowing into the future. Science has hypothesized some explanations, but has left the door open to a substantial temporal symmetry at elementary levels and especially at quantum level. Some hypothesize that Time does not exist, that it is an illusion. Others that it does not exist as a fundamental entity, but that it is an emergent property. Many different hypotheses have been proposed on the nature of Time: absolute time, classical Newtonian time, surpassed by relative time (the time of SR and GR theories), linear time, circular time, continuous time, quantum time (discrete), block time, thermodynamic time, etc.
I do not (completely) agree with any of these hypotheses. As reported in various parts of this work, I think that Time (like Space, Energy, Matter, etc.) is a Phenomenon, something that happens, that does not exist in itself, but that exists because it happens. For me it has to do with an elementary level of Reality, more elementary, more fundamental than those we can access directly with our senses, or with our instruments. That it has to do with the elementary spatial fluctuations that are incessantly produced by what I have called the Primary Source of Reality. Time as a Phenomenon emerging from the dynamics of such Elementary Events produced by the interaction between the Fundamental Force and the Elementary Field. Time as a measure of the greater or lesser speed (rate, pace, rhythm, or whatever we want to call it) with which such fluctuations occur.
Time as a "local" phenomenon therefore, "relative", which manifests itself differently in each event point of the Elementary Field, whose average on a portion of the Field itself (volume of Space) represents the average Time of that portion, of that volume. Time that is equivalent to the density of Mass that characterizes that volume time by time.
It is evident that a Time represented in this way cannot be an absolute time, independent of what happens in the Field itself, of what exists in Space, of the Forms that manifest and evolve in it. A Time that emerges at the most elementary level of Reality, where Space also emerges. A Time of the Field, of the individual event points of the Field, a proper Time. An infinity of times proper to the infinite event points of the infinite and eternal Elementary Field. A Time in incessant formation for fundamental formative processes, in the incessant Creation of the most elementary level of Reality, the first manifestation of the Source. The dynamics of the Elementary Field and its product, the Elementary Action, are the core of the model of Evolutionary Dynamics that I propose in this work.
Local Time, relative to the distribution of Events, and to the Relations between them. Time As a Process of Organized Events. And it is precisely from this difference in the temporal distributions of spatial fluctuations, from this greater or lesser local density of Events that the differences in the rate of temporal flow in the different event points of the Field arise. What we detect as "space-time curvature", which, as said several times, in this model we hypothesize as temporal curvature (with Space flatter as we move away from the smaller scales of size, which we move from around the Planck scale to go back up to scales of size closer to us, in short.
In my opinion, just like Time, also the arrow of Time, this asymmetry arises from the most elementary level of Physical Reality. The symmetry with respect to Time, which many physical laws show, is apparent. There is no real reversibility of phenomena, not even at the quantum level. If an electron or a photon so to speak "retrace their steps", they are not the same electron and the same photon as before. Or rather, they are the same, but they have changed, they are different from before. They have undergone an evolution, for internal and/or external causes. We do not see it and we cannot measure it, but they are different from their former selves. Like us who, moment after moment, are always apparently the same, but in reality different.
What changes, is not seen because it occurs at levels of Reality and complexity lower than those we are observing. If I observe two snapshots of a person taken a microsecond apart, I would say that the person has not changed. But that is not the case. Billions of chemical reactions have occurred and I do not notice them. I did not photograph those. And even if I had tried, I would not have been able to capture a stable image of that incessant swarming of organic biological molecules that constitute the body and allows it to be kept alive. Even if I could do that, all the billions of molecules in the body would change shape slightly at an insane speed, redistributing their masses, charges, and spins of the constituent atoms, in response to spatial, gravitational, electro- and magnetic interactions. And even if I could bring the two snapshots closer together, the electrons and atomic nuclei would have moved, would have interacted, would be different. And even if we could take the snapshots faster than the variations of electrons and nuclei, or any incident photons absorbed or emitted, something incredibly smaller and faster would happen in the dimensional depths of Reality, and would still make that person different between the two moments only 10^44 seconds apart.
Let's go back to insanely small numbers, infinitesimal Spaces and incredibly fast Times. Between the characteristic spatial and temporal measurements of atomic nuclei and their dynamics, of the dynamics of the components (quarks, gluons,...) and what we assume to be the most elementary level there is a dimensional abyss, as seen, of many orders of magnitude. Many!
And even at this incredibly small scale, of infinitesimal Spaces and super-fast Times, Reality is created and evolves in the organization of Events and Relations in Processes, balanced between chaos and order, between indeterminacy and increasing complexity. And here too, Reality incessantly forms and comes to life in a delicate imbalance between Entropy and Negentropy, constructive and deconstructive processes, in co-evolution towards increasing levels of Complexity.
But, as we have seen, this Time, in incessant formation at the most fundamental level of Reality, not to call it absolute, which would acquire another meaning linked to old conceptions of the physical world, now outdated and that we do not want to recall, we will call it "Elementary Time", the "local time of the infinite event points of the Field", is independent of Entropy. Even if Entropy and Negentropy, and the related Processes that determine the increase or decrease, always locally influence the rate of flow, its spatial distribution. They contribute to determining the temporal structure of Reality, within which the Information Structures, the Forms, the Systems, the entire Universe are born and evolve.
Entropy and Mass / gravitational phenomena
In this relation, what we have just said about the relation between Entropy and Time remains valid. Mass and Time are phenomena, they happen. "Things" that exist because they happen. Yes, they are Processes of Events, produced by Entities (Sources), and organized by Relations. Phenomena strictly connected. Or rather, as described by the Principle of General Equivalence (of which the relativistic equivalence principle represents an aspect), they are two different views on the same phenomenon. Different points of view on the same universal process.
In Relativity it is said that Mass curves Space-time. Here we take a further step forward that makes clearer the relation between the two concepts of Mass and Space-time, or rather between the concepts of "Mass density" and "curvature of Space-time" (which we should more properly call "Metric density", meaning by Metric precisely what is called curvature of Space-time). More precisely, it is the curvature of Time (Space at scales increasingly distant from the Planck scale appears increasingly flat and stable) to represent the Mass, the source of gravitational attraction (Negative Mass: the Mass we are familiar with, which we associate with Dark and Ordinary / Visible Matter) and repulsion (Positive Mass: the so-called Dark Energy).
Let's say that these two concepts are the same thing, they correspond to the same phenomenon observed from two different and complementary points of view: the point of view of the Elementary Field and its deformations / inhomogeneities and the point of view of the Structures of Information that represent organizational patterns of the dynamics of the event points of the Field. Dynamics "of" the Field and dynamics of the Structures "in" the Field. We will deal with this extensively in the next chapter, where, among other things, we will explore in more depth the important relationships between the dynamics of the Field and its product, the Elementary Action in its Components, and the dynamics of the Structures: Vortices (Halos of the invisible Dark Matter and Particles of the visible Ordinary Matter), Waves and their Interactions leading to the Composite and Complex Structures, to the Forms constituted by them, etc. up to the Universe as a whole.
Measuring the density of Mass means measuring the difference in the average speed of the time flow in the volume of Elementary Field at any given time supports that density of Mass (a Structure, or a portion of it that exhibits that density). Mass should be measured with clocks, infinite clocks to measure the temporal distributions of elementary spatial fluctuations around the Planck scale at each of the infinite event points of the portion of the Elementary Field that time by time hosts the Structure exhibiting that Mass.
Rhythms of the temporal flow of each event point (punctual proper times), average rhythm of the temporal flow of all the event points of a portion of the Field (average proper time of a spatial portion of the Field), average rhythm of the temporal flow of all the event points of the entire infinite and unlimited Field (universal mean time).
The difference between the average of the proper times of the event points in the observed volume (average proper time of a spatial portion of the Field) and the average time of a portion of the surrounding Field, of sufficient amplitude, or of the entire infinite Elementary Field (universal mean time) is the curvature of the Time "of" that volume, and is the density of Mass "in" that volume. And it can be negative (the Mass of Ordinary Matter) or positive (Dark Energy). If we observe the phenomenon from the point of view of the Field we see the variation of the rhythm of the temporal flow. If we observe it from the point of view of the Structure, of the portion of the Field that exhibits that alteration, that inhomogeneity, we see the Mass of the Structure (a Dark Halo, a Particle).
The profile of this deformation can be complex, as in the case of a Particle of Ordinary Matter, even an elementary Particle like the electron, has a distribution of Mass that is not exactly trivial, due to the internal and external turbulence in which it is immersed. Due to the vortical shape and the incredible level of continuous interaction with itself and with the surrounding world.
Having made this necessary premise, in which we have anticipated themes that will be developed in the next chapter, let's return to the theme of the relationship between Entropy and Mass. From what has been said, I believe it can be easily understood that here too the key to understanding this aspect lies in the peculiar dynamics of the chaos - order processes, in perpetual di-equilibrium, where what determines the greater or lesser causal and variational permanence is the organization of the correlations between the dynamics of the individual event points of the Field that support these Processes, which take the form of Information Structures: Halos, Waves, Particles, Interactions...
At the most basic level, it is the game between Entropy and Negentropy, between constructive and deconstructive Processes, organization and disorganization of the correlations between the dynamics of the event points, and of their inhomogeneities that represent the bricks that the world is made of at this level of minimal Spaces and Times, and of which the physical Fields (derived) and the Structures that we observe in the quantum world are made.
At the slightly more complex level of InfoStructures, again, unstable equilibria, more stable disequilibria, organize and disorganize, in an incessant dance that, in complex and not totally comprehensible forms and modalities (the difficulty of interpretation and understanding of Quantum Theories), makes Existence possible and shapes the Essence / Form of Dark and Ordinary Matter of which the world is made at this intermediate level of Spaces and Times (which also appears so small and rapid to us).
At the even more complex level of Forms, from atoms to superclusters, and even further, from organic molecules to the brains of the most complex living creatures (we are here too), a succession of increasingly larger, nested, fragmented and articulated, more or less stable, evolutionary areas, where Entropy and Negentropy intertwine and make possible the existence of complex molecules, immense clouds and filaments of gas, steam locomotives, neutron stars, the cosmic web, intercontinental communications, planets that in titanic clashes gradually fragment into small swarms of rocks, and together dust and gas attract each other for cosmic times to light up new stars. Thermodynamics applied everywhere, at all levels of complexity, which always appears different, but profoundly, in its principles, always the same.
A few more words, in particular on gravitational phenomena, on gravity, on attraction and repulsion. Freewheeling words. I am not sure what I am about to say.
I return once again to a topic dear to me. I do not think that one can deny that a "force" is at work in the world, or (if we want to avoid the term force that recalls old theoretical settings) that constructive processes act, alongside deconstructive ones (e.g. Second Law of Thermodynamics).
I think it would be worthwhile to explore in depth the relationships between Entropy / Negentropy (or syntropy) on the one hand, and attraction / repulsion on the other.
Repulsive phenomena (e.g. gravitational repulsion produced by dark energy, diffusion or transport of material by movement of atoms, repulsive electrostatic force, repulsive magnetic force, decay by weak nuclear interaction, repulsive Van der Waals forces, etc.), seem to be associated with entropic phenomena, with an increase in Entropy.
The attractive ones (e.g. gravitational repulsion produced by dark energy, diffusion or transport of material by movement of atoms, repulsive electrostatic force, repulsive magnetic force, decay by weak nuclear interaction, repulsive Van der Waals forces, etc.), on the contrary, seem to be associated with antientropic, negentropic phenomena, with the reduction (local, global?) of Entropy.
Observing cosmic phenomena one cannot help but imagine a universal cycle, in which entropy grows and decreases, in an endless creative and evolutionary disequilibrium, between concentration and dispersion.
Gravitational attraction that concentrates Matter (reduction of Entropy), produces radiant Energy (increase of Entropy), up to explosions that disperse and diffuse (increase), and again concentration in new objects, a little more complex. Metallicity that grows in successive generations of stars, more and more dust and gas dispersed, more and more concentrations in stars and galaxies. The attractive gravity that attracts Ordinary Matter (visible) and Dark Matter (invisible) seems to prevail locally and over smaller distances in favor of concentration in the filaments and nodes of the Cosmic Web. The repulsive gravity seems to prevail over the larger distances, between the superclusters, and the other larger objects that we can observe, for example the giant voids that seem to constitute the skeleton of the Web.
And, albeit at infinitely smaller dimensional scales, the balance between electrostatic attraction and repulsion, and between magnetic attraction and repulsion, seems to govern the delicate imbalance between Entropy and Negentropy, between order that gives structure and conservation, and disorder that gives mutability and dynamism.
Entropy and InfoStructures / the quantum world
The topic of Entropy in the world of Particles, Waves and their Interactions, what is called the quantum world, is very vast and complex. There are many concepts and typologies of Entropy, including Von Neumann Entropy which quantifies the amount of classical uncertainty about the quantum state of a system.
We will not dwell on it here. Recalling what has just been said, let's just say that uncertainty is the basis on which the quantum world resides, and it is also the key word in the definition of Entropy. This, once again, makes us understand how these two terms are connected. Organization of InfoStructures and their internal and external dynamics in the bidirectional tension chaos / order. Processes in search of balance and stability in an absolutely unstable world.
These components can only be the premise of a complex, articulated and at times bizarre and weird panorama. We should therefore not be surprised by the strangeness of quantum physics and the difficulties in understanding and interpreting it.
Just a hint on some phenomena that in my opinion deserve particular investigation. The variations of Entropy in quantum interactions and in particular in those that are called "measurements". And again, the Entropy / Negentropy balance in the phenomena of emission and absorption at the level of the atom (interaction with photons / electromagnetic waves, emission and absorption of photons, capture and release of electrons, scattering, etc.), at the level of the nucleus (e.g. decays), at the level of the components of the nucleons (gluon exchange).
Entropy and the Evolution of the Universe
The relationship between Entropy and Forms, the objects that populate the universe, from atoms to galaxies, and even further to cosmic megastructures, has long been studied. It is the world of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, in its role in the origin and destiny of the Universe.
It is considered a dominant, indeed exclusive, law. It is believed that Entropy can only grow globally, throughout the Universe. This concept, which I do not recognize, was born in a phase of physics in which, for various reasons, the scientific and technological focus was concentrated on heat, on systems of atoms and molecules, on gases, and on the dynamics that animated the related phenomena. And it is a concept that supports the hypothesis of a "hot" beginning of the Universe, characterized by a very low entropy, which would have gradually grown in its long evolution from the Big Bang.
I do not agree with the exclusivity of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, as the exclusive regulator of universal dynamics, nor in a birth of the Universe with very low entropy, nor in an end with very high entropy. Luckily the Universe was not created by a physicist, you know what a disaster it would have been! Everything on the contrary...
Why is the Second Law not a dominant law? Or rather, why is it not the only one? Because if it were so, "almost" nothing would exist. Only chaos. As said, this conception neglects a fundamental aspect of Reality, the role of the active aspect of the Primary Source of Reality, the Fundamental Force, which exerts its incessant pressure in the Creation of Existence and in the Evolution of the Essence / Form of Reality.
In my opinion, Reality and the Evolution of the Universe began with a high entropy / disorder (maximum homogeneity, minimum inhomogeneity, chaos, randomness, disorder, no organization). The amount of organization, of Information / Energy in Time increases, not decreases. The universe will never meet heat death, because the Force will continue to express its Action on the Field. In thermodynamic terms, the Force will continue to incessantly heat the Field, always producing new Events, whose correlations will organize themselves into ever new Structures, Forms and Systems of Forms, the Universe in an eternal creative evolution.
Entropy and Negentropy
I took for granted that Entropy is faced by Negentropy, almost as if they were the flags of two competing, conflicting processes. But is it really so? I believe that like all natural Processes that incessantly produce the Formation of Reality, at all levels of Complexity, at all scales, the constructive and deconstructive / transformative processes together contribute, interacting, to the Creation and Evolution of the Universe. Without absolutely wanting to attribute vital intentions and behaviors, we could say that both these polarities participate in the Formation expressing both competitive and collaborative aspects.
Is Entropy balanced by Negentropy? Everything is balanced in the Universe and entropy seems to be balanced by negentropy, in complex and different ways according to the scale, the Complexity, the evolutionary phase, between chaos and order, creating and evolving increasingly complex levels of organization.
Entropy and Negentropy, as well as organization, chaos and order, can be transferred from subsystems. We call these phenomena "Energy transfers". I would also call them "Interactions", Inter-Actions, Actions between subsystems. These transfers are essential for the balance of homogeneity / inhomogeneity, of order / disorder in the Universe. An infinite (or almost infinite, or in any case immense) concentration of Energy (as hypothesized in the Big Bang + Inflation model, or in models that refer to it, Big Bounce, etc.) is not realistic as it presupposes an event of infinite energy concentration. Infinite inhomogeneity, non-uniformity, would require infinite work to be realized. A situation of infinite homogeneity seems much more "plausible" to me, with increasing production of inhomogeneity from whose organization the world we observe arises. Even from the point of view of Entropy / Negentropy this approach seems decidedly more realistic.
Entropy and Negentropy start from zero, pure chaos with a uniform distribution that is gradually slightly altered by increasingly larger local organizations that manifest and express themselves, create and evolve, in the thin and delicate border between construction and deconstruction, between increasing Negentropy (decreasing Entropy) and increasing Entropy. In this thin border, contained between constraints that also evolve, the Systems express work, build Energy, Information, Structures, Forms.
The Systems lose order, are more chaotic and their entropy increases. But within them some subsystems increase their slight degree of inhomogeneity with respect to the rest of the system, acquire Energy, and become able to perform work, which further changes the chaos / order balance, Entropy / Negentropy of the subsystem and of the System as a whole, and of their relationships. And so on, work that builds further constraints, that allow further expression of work, in a global and inexorable escalation, between climbs and descents, and ascents, and again and again, always a little higher.
Something prevents us from reaching an equilibrium, which would be sterile, unproductive. No new constraints, no more positive and negative contributions of free energy, maximum entropy. What is feared as the thermal death of the Universe. It is the constant creative and evolutionary pressure of the Primary Source of Reality, in its active asperto, the Fundamental Force, which incessantly expresses Action towards the Elementary Field, which represents its passive aspect. This constant pressure regulates the delicate dynamic balance of Entropy and Negentropy at all levels of Reality.
- INCLUDE IMAGE - CHAOS / ORDER (IM)BALANCE -
Links to the tables of contents of TFNR Paper
