A Thermodynamic Interpretation of Time for Superstring Rolling Tachyons

TL;DR

This paper proposes a thermodynamic interpretation of time in superstring theory by relating rolling tachyons to a Coulomb gas model, suggesting time emerges in the large particle limit.

Contribution

It introduces a dual statistical system for non-BPS branes in superstring theory, providing a novel thermodynamic perspective on the emergence of time.

Findings

Time can emerge from a statistical system at equilibrium in the large N limit.

A dual Coulomb gas model describes non-BPS branes in superstring theory.

The approach offers a thermodynamic interpretation of time in string theory contexts.

Abstract

Rolling tachyon backgrounds, arising from open strings on unstable branes in bosonic string theory, can be related to a simple statistical mechanical model - Coulomb gas of point charges in two dimensions confined to a circle, the Dyson gas. In this letter we describe a statistical system that is dual to non-BPS branes in superstring theory. We argue that even though the concept of time is absent in the statistical dual sitting at equilibrium, the notion of time can emerge at the large number of particles $N \to \infty$ limit.