Physicist Jim Al-Khalili proposes quantum origin for the arrow of time

British physicist Jim Al-Khalili, a professor emeritus at the University of Surrey, proposes a new perspective on the nature of time in his book ‘On Time’ and via the Fiction Science podcast. While many physicists attribute the unidirectional flow of time to the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the increase of entropy, Al-Khalili argues that the arrow of time is more fundamentally rooted in the quantum realm.

His theory suggests that the direction of time emerges from quantum phenomena, specifically quantum entanglement and quantum decoherence. Al-Khalili asserts that ‘the arrow of time is indeed real, and it’s baked into the structure of the universe,’ moving the fundamental explanation away from thermodynamics and toward the interconnected nature of quantum entities.