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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 27

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The Story of Bose, Photon Spin and Indistinguishability
As we approach the centenary of the discovery of quantum statistics in 1924, it is important to revisit Bose's original derivation of Planck's law usually ignored in most standard presentations of…
Partha GhoseJun 14, 2023
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Spacetime Representation Theory: Setting the Scope of the ISE Method of Topological Redescription
Spacetime dualities arise whenever two theories -- despite being structurally equivalent in some sense -- seemingly provide us with two radically different spatiotemporal descriptions of the world.…
Daniel GrimmerJun 13, 2023
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Electromagnetism in the Encyclopaedias
The paper is based on a talk given to celebrate rsted's discovery of electromagnetism in 1820. It gives a brief account of rsted's life and work, before using the evidence of articles on…
Isobel FalconerJun 10, 2023
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Amy Ogle
A short account of the life of Amy Ogle, who, in 1876, was the first woman to come top of the Natural Sciences Tripos at Cambridge.
Isobel FalconerJun 10, 2023
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The Open Systems View
There is a deeply entrenched view in philosophy and physics, the closed systems view, according to which isolated systems are conceived of as fundamental. On this view, when a system is under the…
Michael E. Cuffaro, Stephan HartmannJun 2, 2023
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God and the Big-Bang: Past and Modern Debates Between Science and Theology
A short phenomenological account of the genesis and evolution of the universe is presented with emphasis on the primordial phases as well as its physical composition, i.e. dark matter and dark…
Gabriele Gionti S. JJun 1, 2023
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Possible connections between relativity theory and a version of quantum theory based upon theoretical variables
An alternative approach towards quantum theory is described, and tentative attempts to connect his approach to special and general relativity are discussed. Important concepts are gauge groups and…
Inge S. HellandMay 23, 2023
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Disappearing Without a Trace: The Arrows of Time in Kent's Solution to the Lorentzian Quantum Reality Problem
Most existing proposals to explain the temporal asymmetries we see around us are sited within an approach to physics based on time evolution, and thus they typically put the asymmetry in at the…
Emily AdlamMay 22, 2023
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Matrix Mechanics Mis-Prized: Max Born's Belated Nobelization
We examine evaluations of the contributions of Matrix Mechanics and Max Born to the formulation of quantum mechanics from Heisenberg's Helgoland paper of 1925 to Born's Nobel Prize of 1954. We point…
John L. Heilbron, Carlo RovelliMay 21, 2023
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Poincare and Einstein on Mass-Energy Equivalence: A Modern Perspective on their 1900 and 1905 Papers
Both Poincar\'e in his 1900 Festschrift paper Poincare and Einstein in his 1905 Annalen der Physik article Einstein were led to E=mc2 by considering electromagnetic…
Patrick MoylanMay 19, 2023
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Abnormal light propagation and the underdetermination of theory by evidence in astrophysics
We investigate the propagation of certain non-plane wave solutions to Maxwell's equations in both flat and curved spacetimes. We find that such solutions (or rather parts of them) exhibit…
Felipe A. Asenjo, Sergio A. Hojman, Niels Linnemann et al.May 15, 2023
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Quanta Iff Discreteness
A brief philosophical inquiry into the foundations of quantum mechanics is presented here. In particular, the direct relationship between granularity, discontinuity, and the presence of quantum…
Marcello PolettiMay 15, 2023
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Big Bang Cosmology and Religious Thought
Alexander Friedmann and Georges Lema\itre are undoubtedly the real fathers of Big Bang cosmologies. In this article I study the influences their work underwent due to some religious as well as…
Jean-Pierre LuminetMay 10, 2023
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Haag as a How-To Theorem
Haag's theorem is a classic no-go theorem. It rigorously demonstrates there is a logical problem with the interaction picture (IP), one of the most widely used modeling tools in quantum field theory…
David Freeborn, Marian Gilton, Chris MitschMay 10, 2023
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Between a Stone and a Hausdorff Space
We consider the duality between General Relativity and the theory of Einstein algebras, in the extended setting where one permits non-Hausdorff manifolds. We show that the duality breaks down, and…
Jingyi Wu, James Owen WeatherallMay 5, 2023
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The local validity of special relativity from a scale-relative perspective
Most contemporary physicists hold that the local validity of special relativity (SR) within general relativity (GR) is expressed by means of an interdependent cluster of mathematical concepts, one of…
Niels Linnemann, James Read, Nicholas TehMay 2, 2023
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Retrospectively Diagnosing Einstein with Asperger's Syndrome and the Dismal Failure of Debunking Myths
In 2003, Simon Baron-Cohen, a world expert on autism, diagnosed Einstein posthumously with Asperger's syndrome. I think we cannot diagnose a dead person. Historians of science have fiercely objected…
Galina WeinsteinMay 2, 2023
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DT fusion through the 5He 3/2+ "Bretscher state" accounts for 25\% of our existence via nucleosynthesis and for the possibility of fusion energy
In big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), the deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion reaction, D(T,n)α, enhanced by the 3/2+ resonance, is responsible for 99% of primordial 4He. This has been known for…
Mark B. Chadwick, Mark W. Paris, Brian M. HainesMay 1, 2023
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Dark Energy or Modified Gravity?
We consider some of the epistemic benefits of exploring "theory space" in the context of modifications of general relativity with intended applications in cosmology. We show how studying…
Chris Smeenk, James Owen WeatherallApr 28, 2023
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The influence of Orthodox Christianity on cosmological ideas in Ukraine
For the first time in detail the influence of Orthodox Christianity on the development of cosmological ideas in Ukraine. The evolution of existing models of the birth and structure of the universe at…
Oksana KoltachykhinaApr 26, 2023
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Torsion in the Classical Spacetime Context
Teleparallel gravity, an empirically equivalent counterpart to General Relativity, represents the influence of gravity using torsional forces. It raises questions about theory interpretation and…
Helen Meskhidze, James Owen WeatherallApr 21, 2023
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Annotated bibliography: Philosophy of Astrophysics
The following annotated bibliography contains a reasonably complete survey of contemporary work in the philosophy of astrophysics. Spanning approximately forty years from the early 1980s to the…
Cameron C. YetmanApr 20, 2023
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The Gibbs paradox in classical thermodynamics is a consequence of the erroneous attribution of the entropy of an ideal gas to additive quantities
The article reveals the error that in classical thermodynamics leads to the Gibbs paradox. The essence of the error lies in the fact that the entropy of an ideal gas is attributed to additive…
Volodymyr IhnatovychApr 19, 2023
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Spacetime Singularities and Invariance
This paper explains why spacetime singularities do not constitute a breakdown of physical laws, and points out that the difference between the metrics at singularities and those outside of…
O. Cristi Stoica, Iulian D. ToaderApr 18, 2023
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Carnap on Quantum Mechanics
This entry reviews Rudolf Carnap's philosophical views on the quantum mechanics of his time. It also offers some thoughts on how Carnap might have reacted to some recent developments in the…
Sebastian Horvat, Iulian D. ToaderApr 18, 2023
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