Global Gauge Symmetry Breaking in the Abelian Higgs MechanismThis paper aims to resolve the incompatibility between two extant gauge-invariant accounts of the Abelian Higgs mechanism: the first account uses global gauge symmetry breaking, and the second…Silvester G. A. Borsboom, Sebastian De Haro·Jul 2, 2026SaveLearn
Selling the Stock, Not the Cream: The Soviet Émigré Career Premium of the 1990sIn the early-mid 1990s, scientists emigrating from the former Soviet Union to the United States -- especially physicists, engineers, chemists, and biologists -- frequently secured prestigious and…Vitaly Pronskikh·Jul 1, 2026SaveLearn
Nomic Structure and ReductionThe canonical formulation of physical theories with irregular nomic structure is as constrained Hamiltonian theories within which ill-posedness of the equations of motion is connected to a pernicious…Sean Gryb, Karim P. Y. Thébault·Jul 1, 2026SaveLearn
In Memoriam: Igal Talmi (1925-2026)A brief obituary of Igal Talmi (1925-2026) focusing on his scientific heritage. Published in Nuclear Physics News 36 (2026) 39-40.Amiram Leviatan, Avraham Gal·Jul 1, 2026SaveLearn
The Dynamics of Quantum Gravity: the Missing Piece in the Spacetime Emergentist AccountQuantum gravity suggests that spacetime may not be fundamental, and it has been argued that we can understand a theory without a fundamental spacetime if we are able to claim that spacetime…Álvaro Mozota Frauca·Jun 30, 2026SaveLearn
What Naturalness Measures: Fine-Tuning and Informational Invariants in Cosmology and Dark MatterNaturalness is commonly presented as an objective constraint on physical theories: a model requiring fine-tuning is judged implausible. This presentation conflates a representation-dependent quantity…Stefano Profumo·Jun 29, 2026SaveLearn
The unreasonable effectiveness of the cathetus rule in ancient and modern opticsThe "cathetus rule" in optics alleges that the image of an object-point, formed by reflection or refraction at a surface, lies on the perpendicular ("cathetus") from the object-point…Gavin R. Putland·Jun 27, 2026SaveLearn
Holographic Strange Metals for Philosophers and PhysicistsThis paper introduces the physics and philosophy of strange metals, which are characterized by unusual electrical and thermal properties that deviate from conventional metallic behaviour. The…Enrico Cinti, Sebastian De Haro, Mark Golden et al.·Jun 25, 2026SaveLearn
Cosmology as Representation: Informational Invariance and the Limits of Scientific RealismModern cosmology is often taken to provide an increasingly accurate description of the universe's underlying ontology through progressively refined mathematical models. I challenge this…Stefano Profumo·Jun 19, 2026SaveLearn
Does classical thermodynamics need a third law? Securing the second law at absolute zeroThis paper elaborates on the implications of the relationship between the Second and Third Laws and provides a comprehensive formal and historical justification for the logical redundancy of the…José-María Martín-Olalla·Jun 18, 2026SaveLearn
Timekeeping Beyond Human Whim: A Critical Analysis of Strong Conventionalism about ClocksConventional elements play an integral role in measuring time. Clocks unavoidably require a chosen standard of synchrony. The periodic process selected for the standard is not imposed upon us in any…Matias Slavov·Jun 15, 2026SaveLearn
Symmetry Breaking through Superselection by Boundary ConditionsSpontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) is central to modern physics but is conventionally defined only for infinite systems, raising challenges for its interpretation in finite, real-world setups. This…Silvester G. A. Borsboom, José P. Dupont·Jun 13, 2026SaveLearn
Information Is Not Physical: Possibility Spaces, Erasure, and the Structure of Unrealized AlternativesThe slogan ``information is physical,'' introduced by Rolf Landauer and developed through quantum information theory and black-hole thermodynamics, has achieved near-axiomatic status in…Madhurendra Mishra·Jun 13, 2026SaveLearn
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly -- Living with Priors in Bayesian confirmationBayesian confirmation faces a classic problem: where do initial priors come from? In cases with abundant data and repeated updating, different priors tend to converge to the same posterior. However,…Niels Linnemann, Christian Wüthrich·Jun 12, 2026SaveLearn
A Unified Subject Map for 130 Years of PhysicsMore than a century of physics is recorded in the American Physical Society (APS) archive, but the corpus cannot be analyzed as a single, time-resolved object because its subject metadata are…Khoa Nguyen, Pragyan Pandey, Sophie Li et al.·Jun 12, 2026SaveLearn
A Husserlian ontology of the science of physicsSince 1939, when Wigner published his proposal to define particles via symmetries expressed as algebraic groups, we have seen a long stream of attempts to formulate an ontology of matter based on…Jobst Landgrebe, Barry Smith·Jun 12, 2026SaveLearn
Reference Frames and the Ontology of General Relativity. Re(l)ality: The View From Nowhere vs. The View From EverywhereIn General Relativity, the genuine observable quantities are gauge-invariant Dirac observables. One well-known method of constructing them is relational, using reference frames. This leaves open an…Nicola Bamonti·Jun 12, 2026SaveLearn
At the Origins of Electroculture: A Retrodictive Modelling of Bertholon's 18th-Century Electrovegetometer in the Pre-Corona RegimePierre-Nicolas Bertholon's 18th-century electrovegetometer was conceived to harness "atmospheric electricity" for plant growth, yet its physical capabilities have never been quantified…Thierry Dufour·Jun 9, 2026SaveLearn
From Electroculture to Plasma Agriculture: A Three-Century Arc Bridging Bertholon's Legacy with Contemporary Farming AdvancesThis review traces the historical trajectory of electricity in agriculture, from the earliest observations of electrical phenomena to the emergence of cold plasmas. Looking back to Antiquity and then…Thierry Dufour·Jun 9, 2026SaveLearn
Comment on "Specific heat of an ideal Bose gas above the Bose condensation temperature," [Am. J. Phys. 72(9), 1193--1194 (2004)]We examine the English translation of Albert Einstein's groundbreaking 1925 paper on Bose-Einstein condensation. We guide readers to execute the calculations Einstein outlined for the specific…Frank Wang·Jun 8, 2026SaveLearn
Erdal İnönü at 100: From the Sphere to the PlaneOn the centennial of Erdal İnönü's birth, this article reflects on his scientific legacy and his role in shaping modern theoretical physics in Türkiye. We briefly discuss his life, scientific…Ilmar Gahramanov·Jun 4, 2026SaveLearn
Obituary: Aristophanes DimakisThe theoretical physicist and mathematician Aristophanes Dimakis passed away on July 8, 2021, at the age of 68, in Athens, Greece. We briefly review his life, career and scientific achievements.Folkert Müller-Hoissen·Jun 4, 2026SaveLearn
String Theory for MetaphysiciansString theory is a minefield for philosophers in terms of conceptual difficulty and mathematical technicality. Presentations aimed at philosophers generally focus on providing precise and technical…Baptiste Le Bihan·Jun 1, 2026SaveLearn
Relativity from the Perspectives of ObserversThis paper reviews the role of observers in the development of relativity theory, from special relativity to general relativity, emphasizing that observer-dependent descriptions are as fundamental as…Tao Wang, Yu Shi·Jun 1, 2026SaveLearn
The principles of neopositivism and the laws of thermodynamicsThe second law of thermodynamics, which deals with irreversibility and makes the theory so special, is usually considered empirical. The definition of equilibrium as an attractor, on the other hand,…Didier Lairez·Jun 1, 2026SaveLearn