Chai and Why? Preview: Arrow of Time by Gautam Mandal, Prithvi Theatre, Oct. 7 2012

Prof. Gautam Mandal briefly explains the concept of the Arrow of Time, that he'll be speaking on at the next Chai and Why? session on Oct. 7th 2012, at Prithvi Theatre, (11am). Why do movies of everyday events look funny when played backwards, whereas the same movies zoomed to atomic scales look perfectly all right when played either forwards or backwards? Why do we never see a cup of cold tea heat up by itself although it's permitted by the microscopic laws of physics? Why does a black hole only swallow objects and not throw them back? These are instances of "arrows of time", which appear in thermodynamics, black hole physics, cosmology and so on. We will explore the connections among some of these arrows and attempt to explain them. About the Speaker: Prof. Gautam Mandal is a Theoretical Physicist at TIFR, with varied interests. Works in field of String Theory, Black Holes, Supergravity, One-dimensional Fermions, Gauge Theory.