The Dark Arrow of Time: A Scientific Novel (Science and Fiction)

Annotation This riveting scientific novel combines adventure, love, suspense, magic, pathos, and mystery in a carefully woven plot that is full of unexpected twists and turns. The author is an astrophysicist who has developed an alternative theory, which holds that traveling in time is possible. Time is, in fact, the real protagonist of the novel and of the intrigue surrounding the attempt to seize the secret of Time's other arrow, the dark arrow normally hidden from us, which points back at our past. The underlying premise is that antimatter is nothing more than common matter moving backwards in time. The justification for this interpretation has been with us for some time, "hiding in plain sight" within Maxwell's equations, the Lorentz transformations, the CPT theorem of relativistic quantum mechanics, and Feynman diagrams. While the science underlying the narrative is explained whenever necessary, sometimes with the aid of simple mathematical formulas, these scientific asides account for only a small part of the book, which will appeal to a wide audience, including readers who are far from being science buffs Front Matter ....Pages i-v Very Fidgety, the Fat Lady Next to Him (Massimo Villata)....Pages 1-6 They Were Flying Over Gentle Crimson Hills (Massimo Villata)....Pages 7-12 Helias Slept Fitfully (Massimo Villata)....Pages 13-20 Why Did You Do that? (Massimo Villata)....Pages 21-32 The Next Morning It Rained (Massimo Villata)....Pages 33-42 Seated Behind His Enormous Desk (Massimo Villata)....Pages 43-57 A Sort of Autumn Had Arrived (Massimo Villata)....Pages 59-70 The Professor, with His Most Blissful Expression (Massimo Villata)....Pages 71-81 As They Came Closer to Mars (Massimo Villata)....Pages 83-90 The Pilot and the Prisoner Had Reached the Shuttle (Massimo Villata)....Pages 91-100 Nothing Moved in the Silent Valley (Massimo Villata)....Pages 101-108 Helias Was Stretched Out on the Floor of His Room (Massimo Villata)....Pages 109-113 Are They High Enough Yet? (Massimo Villata)....Pages 115-124 The Meeting Had Left Helias Kadler Shaken and Confused (Massimo Villata)....Pages 125-130 In that Moment, Helias Could Remember Very Little of His Conjectures (Massimo Villata)....Pages 131-137 But Dr. Kadler, that Hot Afternoon Near a Sea on the Planet Thaýma (Massimo Villata)....Pages 139-147 Helias Had Sat Down on the Step (Massimo Villata)....Pages 149-149 Everything Had Ended Well (Massimo Villata)....Pages 151-152 Back Matter ....Pages 153-163