Spontaneous symmetry breaking origin for the difference between time and space.
We suggest that the difference between time and space is due to spontaneous symmetry breaking. In a theory with spinors the signature of the metric is related to the signature of the Lorentz group. We discuss a higher symmetry that contains pseudo-orthogonal groups with an arbitrary signature as subgroups. The fundamental asymmetry between time and space can then result as a property of the ground state rather than being put into the formulation of the theory a priori. We show how the complex structure of quantum field theory as well as gravitational field equations arise from spinor gravity--a fundamental spinor theory without a metric.
Wetterich
C
C
Institut für Theoretische Physik, Philosophenweg 16, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.