Does time travel counteract the second law of thermodynamics?

Determine whether any physically realizable form of time travel can counteract the second law of thermodynamics, for example by enabling entropy reduction or otherwise violating thermodynamic irreversibility; resolving this would validate or refute the model’s assumption that time travel does not affect the second law and, by extension, the assumption of a finite timeline due to heat death used to bound the maximum construction number.

Background

In specifying the model’s dynamics, the author assumes there is a maximum possible construction number for time machines, motivated in part by the finite lifetime of the universe due to heat death. This assumption implicitly relies on the second law of thermodynamics holding even in the presence of time travel.

The author explicitly acknowledges uncertainty about whether time travel might counteract the second law. If time travel could violate or circumvent the second law, the model’s assumption of a finite timeline (and therefore a finite maximum construction number) could be invalid, potentially altering the central conclusion that time travel is self-suppressing.