Frautschi S
Science. 1982 Aug 13;217(4560):593-9. doi: 10.1126/science.217.4560.593.
The question of how the observed evolution of organized structures from initial chaos in the expanding universe can be reconciled with the laws of statistical mechanics is studied, with emphasis on effects of the expansion and gravity. Some major sources of entropy increase are listed. An expanding "causal" region is defined in which the entropy, though increasing, tends to fall further and further behind its maximum possible value, thus allowing for the development of order. The related questions of whether entropy will continue increasing without limit in the future, and whether such increase in the form of Hawking radiation or radiation from positronium might enable life to maintain itself permanently, are considered. Attempts to find a scheme for preserving life based on solid structures fail because events such as quantum tunneling recurrently disorganize matter on a very long but fixed time scale, whereas all energy sources slow down progressively in an expanding universe. However, there remains hope that other modes of life capable of maintaining themselves permanently can be found.
研究了在膨胀宇宙中，从初始混沌状态观测到的组织结构演化如何与统计力学定律相协调的问题，重点关注膨胀和引力的影响。列出了一些熵增加的主要来源。定义了一个膨胀的“因果”区域，其中熵虽然在增加，但趋于越来越落后于其最大可能值，从而允许秩序的发展。考虑了相关问题，即熵在未来是否会无限制地持续增加，以及以霍金辐射或正电子素辐射形式的这种增加是否能使生命永久维持自身。基于固体结构寻找一种维持生命的方案的尝试失败了，因为诸如量子隧穿等事件会在非常长但固定的时间尺度上反复使物质无序化，而在膨胀的宇宙中所有能源都会逐渐减慢。然而，仍然有希望找到能够永久维持自身的其他生命模式。
