Multiple time dimensions
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The possibility that there might be more than one dimension of time has occasionally been discussed in physics and philosophy.
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[edit] Physics
Special relativity describes spacetime as a manifold whose metric tensor has a negative eigenvalue. This corresponds to the existence of a "time-like" direction. A metric with multiple negative eigenvalues would correspondingly imply several timelike directions, i.e. multiple time dimensions, but there is no consensus regarding the relationship of these extra "times" to time as conventionally understood.
Nonetheless, theories with more than one dimension of time have sometimes been advanced in physics, whether as a serious description of reality or just as a curious possibility. Itzhak Bars's work on "two-time physics"[1], inspired by the SO(10,2) symmetry of the extended supersymmetry structure of M-theory, is the most recent and systematic development of the concept (see also F-theory).
[edit] Philosophy
An Experiment with Time by J.W. Dunne (1927) describes[2] an ontology in which there is an infinite hierarchy of conscious minds, each with its own dimension of time and able to view events in lower time dimensions from outside. His theory was often criticised as exhibiting an unnecessary infinite regress.
The conceptual possibility of multiple time dimensions has also been raised in modern analytic philosophy.[3]
[edit] In fiction
The Number of the Beast by Robert A. Heinlein (1980) features a six-dimensional cosmology in which there are three time dimensions, denoted t, tau (Greek τ) and teh (Cyrillic cursive т).[4]
The Ware Tetralogy by Rudy Rucker features aliens called Metamartians who "are from a part of the cosmos where time is two-dimensional".[5]
