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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 17

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The Challenging History of Other Earths
This paper provides an overview of recent historical research regarding scientifically-informed challenges to the idea that the stars are other suns orbited by other inhabited earths -- an idea that…
Christopher M. GraneySep 17, 2024
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Galileo and Buonamici on the Tides of the Sea: Was Something Omitted from the Dialogue?
In his 1616 discourse on the tides, Galileo claimed that diurnal tides occurred in Lisbon, Portugal, bolstering his theory of the tides. Lisbon does not feature such tides, but in an exchange of…
Christopher M. GraneySep 17, 2024
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Torres funerarias chullpa en el valle del r\'io Lauca: un primer an\'alisis arqueoastron\'omico
In this work we employ the methods of archaeoastronomy to analyze the orientation, possibly astronomical, of numerous groups of chullpa funerary towers, mainly from the 12th to 16th centuries,…
Alejandro GanguiSep 16, 2024
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The Ancient Egyptian Cosmological Vignette: First Visual Evidence of the Milky Way and Trends in Coffin Depictions of the Sky Goddess Nut
Here, I test the long-held assumption that the ancient Egyptian sky goddess Nut represented the Milky Way by examining Nut's visual depictions on ancient Egyptian coffins. I assemble a catalog of 555…
Or GraurSep 16, 2024
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The Interaction of Matter and Radiation: The Physics of C.V. Raman, S.N. Bose and M.N. Saha. Part 2: Physics Highlights
Three extraordinary physics discoveries were made from colonial India, which did not have any previous tradition of research in modern physics: Saha ionization equation (1920), Bose statistics…
Arnab Rai ChoudhuriSep 13, 2024
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The Interaction of Matter and Radiation: The Physics of C.V. Raman, S.N. Bose and M.N. Saha. Part 1: Historical Background
Three extraordinary physics discoveries were made from colonial India, which did not have any previous tradition of research in modern physics: Saha ionization equation (1920), Bose statistics…
Arnab Rai ChoudhuriSep 13, 2024
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A primer on Carroll gravity
The ultra-relativistic limit of general relativity is Carroll gravity. In this article, we provide (i) a rigorous and thorough exposition of the geometric formalism of the 'magnetic' version of…
Eleanor March, James ReadSep 12, 2024
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Early theories on fluid resistance and translation of Euler's "Dilucidationes de resistentia fluidorum"
In 1763, Euler published "Dilucidationes de resistentia fluidorum" (Explanations on the resistance of fluids), a memoir that challenges the fluid resistance theories proposed by Isaac Newton and…
Sylvio R. BistafaSep 10, 2024
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Against Self-Location
I distinguish between pure self-locating credences and superficially self-locating credences, and argue that there is never any rationally compelling way to assign pure self-locating credences. I…
Emily AdlamSep 9, 2024
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Supersymmetry in the Seiberg-Witten Theory: A Window into Quantum Field Theory
We take supersymmetry in the Seiberg-Witten theory as a case study of the uses of (super)symmetry arguments in studying the ontology of four-dimensional interacting quantum field theories. Together…
Sanne Vergouwen, Sebastian De HaroSep 7, 2024
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Category-theoretic formulation of relational materialism
This brief brochure is intended to present a philosophical theory known as relational materialism. We introduce the postulates and principles of the theory, articulating its ontological and…
Bekir Baytaş, Ozan Ekin DerinSep 4, 2024
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Feynman 1947 letter on path integral for the Dirac equation
In 1947, four months before the famous Shelter Island conference, Richard Feynman wrote a lengthy letter to his former MIT classmate Theodore Welton, reporting on his efforts to develop a path…
Ted JacobsonAug 27, 2024
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A note on the notion of now and time flow in special relativity
With special relativity, we seem to be facing a conundrum. It is a very well-tested theory; in this way, the Minkowski spacetime must be "capturing" essential features of space and time. However, its…
Mario Bacelar ValenteAug 24, 2024
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Motivating Gauge-Invariant Approaches to Particle Physics
There is noticeable consensus among physicists and philosophers that only gauge-invariant quantities can be physically real. However, this insight that physical quantities must be gauge-invariant is…
Philipp BerghoferAug 21, 2024
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How to Recover Spacetime Structure from Privileged Coordinates
We show that the geometric structure of an arbitrary relativistic spacetime can be determined by the transformation groups associated with a collection of privileged coordinate systems.
Henrique Gomes, Tushar Menon, Oliver Pooley et al.Aug 20, 2024
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Energy and temperature
An English (2024) translation (v1) by P. Marquet of the Max Planck's 1911 paper "Energy and temperature" published first in French ("Energie et temp\'erature", J. Phys. Theor. Appl., 1 (1),…
Pascal Marquet, Max PlanckAug 19, 2024
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On recent thermodynamic theories. (Nernst heat theorem and quantum hypothesis) \"Uber neuere thermodynamische Theorien.(Nernstsches W\"armetheorem und Quanten-Hypothese)
An English (2024) translation (v1) by P. Marquet of the 1912 German paper "\"Uber neuere thermodynamische Theorien. (Nernstsches W\"armetheorem und Quanten-Hypothese) / On recent thermodynamic…
Pascal Marquet, Max PlanckAug 15, 2024
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A Heuristic Philosophical Discourse on Various Applications of Abstract Differential Geometry in Quantum Gravity Research
In the present paper, we outline and expound the fundamental and novel qualitative-cum-philosophical premises, principles, ideas, concepts, constructions and results that originate from our ongoing…
Ioannis RaptisAug 14, 2024
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Galileo's Ship and the Relativity Principle
It is widely acknowledged that the Galilean Relativity Principle, according to which the laws of classical systems are the same in all inertial frames in relative motion, has played an important role…
S. Murgueitio RamírezAug 12, 2024
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A neo-Kantian explanation of the applicability of mathematics to physics
Various 'optimistic' attempts have been made to reasonably explain the undeniable effectiveness of mathematics in its application to physics. They range over retrospective, historical accounts of…
Jorge ManeroAug 6, 2024
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Einstein Against Singularities: Analysis versus Geometry
Einstein identified singularities in spacetimes, such as at the Schwarzschild radius, where later relativists only find a coordinate system assigning multiple values to a single spacetime event.…
John D. NortonAug 5, 2024
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Pure shape dynamics, self-subsisting structures, and the nature of time
The paper discusses the possible implications of the relational framework of Pure Shape Dynamics for the metaphysics of time. The starting point of the analysis is an interpretation of shapes in…
Antonio Vassallo, Pedro NaranjoJul 30, 2024
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How are Entanglement Entropies Related to Entropy Bounds?
In this paper we seek to understand what current knowledge of entanglement entropies suggests about the appropriate way to interpret the covariant entropy bound. We first begin by arguing that just…
Emily AdlamJul 29, 2024
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Quantum Field Theory and the Limits of Reductionism
I suggest that the current situation in quantum field theory (QFT) provides some reason to question the universal validity of ontological reductionism. I argue that the renormalization group flow is…
Emily AdlamJul 29, 2024
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Julian Hirniak, an early proponent of periodic chemical reaction
In this article we present and discuss the work and scientific legacy of Julian Hirniak, the Ukrainian chemist and physicist who published two articles in 1908 and 1911 about periodic chemical…
Niklas Manz, Yurij Holovatch, John TysonJul 29, 2024
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