States of Matter, States of Time

So, I've been trying to brainstorm a system of different 'dimensions' to comprise my Layered World, leafing through old concepts of classical elements, chaos and order, things like that. Then, right when I was settling down to sleep, an idea struck me: What if in different dimensions, time behaved like different states of matter? Of course, this would probably just be in a superficial sense, but I think it still makes for an interesting view of time. For instance:

• In the 'Solid Time' dimension, time stands all but still for the world. Maybe people of sufficient will could still move about, like flowing sand or broken-off shards, but the actual setting never stops being a particular time of day.
• In the 'Liquid Time' dimension, which is essentially our dimension, time moves the way we're used to thinking of it. It runs onward like a river, splitting into tributaries, and someone with a power over time could briefly send it flowing the opposite way, or risk it crashing against itself with a splash.
• In the 'Gaseous Time' dimension, things start to get more loosey-goosey. Things might experience time together in currents, but they might also very well age at different rates on a dime, or go back the opposite way, letting you meet your past self.
• In the 'Plasmic Time' dimension, time is just as loose, but can also zip past in an instant. Everything moves like a montage, life experienced in snapshot moments.

Then of course there's the other states of matter, which is more difficult since I've no head for quantum physics. Still, from a moment or two of research:

• In the 'Bose-Einstein Condensate' dimension, all time is experienced from beginning to end, simultaneously. Its residents are eternal.
• In the 'Fermionic Condensate' dimension, everyone is separated in their own little areas to experience a time only relevant to them. Perhaps this is the realm of the Mental World.

I was also contemplating each world having a patron deity, each themed after the classical element that state of matter calls to mind- Stone, Water, Air, Lightning, Ice and Gravity respectively.

But to know if I'm on the right track with any of this, I need someone with a greater understanding of physics than I to provide input and/or get annoyed with me for my shallow understanding of matter. Any such person interested?

edited 5th Apr '18 12:19:53 AM by LizardOfAus

Well, you're kind of tossing anything resembling real physics out of the boat here, so there's not really a lot to say. Extrapolating bizarre metaphysical properties from the Cliff Notes version of quantum physics is certainly interesting, and could result in some entertaining stories, but there's not much that a person versed in the actual theory could contribute to it in terms of realism.

For one thing, time isn't really a "dimension" in the same sense as up, down, left, right. It's actually an illusion created by the propagation of causality through spacetime: that is, things change in an observable and measurable sequence, and that sequence gives rise to the perception that we call "time". One of the basic principles of quantum physics is symmetry: that all causes and effects can be played backwards or forwards without losing any information. (As a fun note, the granularity of quantum mechanics is governed by the smallest events that can be observed.)

If you break this symmetry, then you literally no longer have physics as we know it, because you're throwing out the idea that one event can "cause" another event, and this goes down to the simplest interactions that allow matter to exist. In other words, the very first thing wrong with your idea to an actual scientist would be the idea that time can be played with as if it were a spatial dimension. ^note Excluding odd things like the inversion of space and time axes that occur in Penrose diagrams around black holes.

FYI, lest you get caught up in terminology, spacetime itself is a four-dimensional coordinate system but the "time" part is sort of a misnomer. There's a meme out there saying that physicists are bad at naming things.

Now, string theory does offer some rather interesting predictions — or rather, possibilities — for you. It hypothesizes that there are more than four spatial dimensions, but all of the extra ones are packed together ("compactified") and have zero or infinitesimal size. If we could somehow expand or access these extra dimensions, then the physical properties of matter and even the nature of spacetime would change completely within them.

Your wacky realities could be a consequence of this unfolding of 11-D string space.

edited 5th Apr '18 8:19:33 PM by Fighteer

One interesting possibility that is seriously discussed by cosmologists is a kind of timeless and spaceless volume that existed before the Big Bang. It consisted entirely of quantum foam—no irregularity at all, so that information could not exist and be transmitted across either "time" or "space"—when everything and everywhen is exactly identical in it's physcial properties "time" and "space" lose their defining characteristics. The only thing that "happened" were random fluctuations in the quantum foam—one of which eventually was large enough to create a bubble that became our universe.

And, indeed, it's hypothesized that a previous universe could have arrived at that state of absolute entropy after its own heat death. Another possibility is that spontaneous vacuum energy decay could occur over a long enough period, and the resulting "new" universe could be our own. This could be happening all the time in the multiverse, and there's no telling what configuration of physical laws any given universe might have.

edited 6th Apr '18 5:20:06 AM by Fighteer

Guess I was slightly barking up the wrong tree by trying to delve into actual physics for my idea. For the record, I'm aware that the phrase 'pocket dimension' is a misnomer, and a better term might be pocket space. I also have just enough understanding of physics to be aware of a couple of theories on what constitutes a real dimension, and how time may or may not factor into that. None of those theories would make my idea truly possible.

I guess what I was looking for when starting this thread was an understanding of the states of matter outside the 'naturally occurring four'. Which, on reflection, would probably be better as a question of its own, as would scouting for ideas on a Layered World.

As far as states of matter, there are actually quite a few. Outside the classical four there’s a bunch that exist in extreme conditions, like Bose-Einstein condensate which so far has only been observed in a laboratory because it requires temperatures close to absolute zero. [1]

edited 11th Apr '18 3:25:11 PM by archonspeaks

Well, in the classic layered world trope, places here in our world "correspond" in some way to places in the alternative world. I dont know how closely you want to adhere to that. It would be somewhat like the Copenhagen Many Worlds hypothesis, except in some of the branching timelines, time itself flows differently.

I have no idea how plausible that might be. The passage of time, as we experience it, isnt a fundemental property of the universe, and instead is an outcome of the second law of thermodynamics: because entropy in our universe occurs in only one direction and at a certain pace, we experience that change as time. But current physics does not include a special status for a moment called "now", or why we all seem to experience the same "now" at the same, er... time.

Which tells me that you could invent just about any handwave you want and it woukd seem semi plausible. Go wild.