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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 31

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The Memories of the First European Cosmic Ray Symposium: Lodz, Poland 1968
The origins of the series of European Cosmic-Ray Symposia are briefly described. The first meeting in the series, on Hadronic Interactions and Extensive Air Showers, held in Lodz, Poland in 1968, was…
A A WatsonNov 24, 2022
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Gravitational Conundrum: Confusing Clock-Rate Measurements on the "First Fleet" from England to Australia
Voyages of exploration often included astronomers among their crew to aid with maritime navigation. William Dawes, a British Marine who had been trained in practical astronomy, was assigned to the…
Richard de GrijsNov 21, 2022
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Reducing Thermodynamics to Boltzmannian Statistical Mechanics: The Case of Macro Values
Thermodynamic macro variables, such as the temperature or volume macro variable, can take on a continuum of allowable values, called thermodynamic macro values. Although referring to the same macro…
Alexander EhmannNov 16, 2022
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The Point of Primitive Ontology
Bohmian mechanics grounds the predictions of quantum mechanics in precise dynamical laws for a primitive ontology of point particles. In an appraisal of the de-Broglie-Bohm theory, the paper…
Dustin Lazarovici, Paula ReichertNov 15, 2022
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Archaeoastronomy and the alleged <<Stonehenge calendar>>
In a recent paper in Antiquity (Darvill 2022), the author has proposed that the project of the <<sarsen>> phase (stage 2) of Stonehenge (c. 2600 BC) was conceived in order to represent a calendar…
Giulio Magli, Juan Antonio BelmonteNov 15, 2022
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Archaeoastronomical study on the north-central coast of Peru
The Caral civilization developed on the north-central coast of Peru and had an occupation period between 2870 and 1970 years BC. The first studies carried out in the field of archaeoastronomy showed…
Jose Ricra, Alejandro GanguiNov 10, 2022
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Functionalising the wavefunction
Functionalism is the view that being x is to play the role of x. This paper defends a functionalist account of three-dimensional entities in the context of Wave Function Realism (WFR), that can…
Lorenzo LorenzettiNov 8, 2022
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A room, a teacher and many friends.
Fedele LizziNov 8, 2022
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The reification of the word against science
Research in foundations of physics is stagnant, as claimed by many scientists during the last years. I suggest that one reason might be the reification of language, particularly of mathematics, which…
Luigi FoschiniNov 7, 2022
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From the replica trick to the replica symmetry breaking technique
Among the various remarkable contributions of Giorgio Parisi to physics, his formulation of the replica symmetry breaking solution for the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model stands out. In this article,…
Patrick CharbonneauNov 3, 2022
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Before thy throne I slip in gently, hoping nobody will notice: A memorial to Robin Hudson
We dedicate this to the life and work of Robin Hudson -- a mathematical physicist who developed the peerless quantum stochastic calculus, but who also inspired generations of researchers with both…
John GoughNov 2, 2022
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How causation is rooted into thermodynamics
The notions of cause and effect are widely employed in science. I discuss why and how they are rooted into thermodynamics. The entropy gradient (i) explains in which sense interventions affect the…
Carlo RovelliNov 2, 2022
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Investigation of the solution of a system of partial differential equations with periodic coefficients
This is an English translation of a paper by the French physicist Alfred Potier (1840-1905) that originally appeared 150 years ago [A. Potier, ``Recherches sur l'int\'egration d'un syst\`eme…
Alfred Potier, Edward KuesterNov 1, 2022
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Deflating Spacetime: A Dynamics-First View of the Spacetime Manifold
What, if anything, can help us explain the dynamical behavior of matter? One may be tempted here to appeal to the laws of nature, or to the world's geometric structure, or even to the smooth…
Daniel GrimmerOct 30, 2022
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My discussions of quantum foundations with John Stewart Bell
In 1976, I met John Bell several times in CERN and we talked about a possible violation of optical theorem, purity tests, EPR paradox, Bell inequalities and their violation. I review our discussions,…
Marian KupczynskiOct 30, 2022
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Whence deep realism for Everettian quantum mechanics?
`Shallow' and `deep' versions of scientific realism may be distinguished as follows: the shallow realist is satisfied with belief in the existence of the posits of our best scientific theories; by…
Raoni W. Arroyo, Jonnas R. B. ArenhartOct 30, 2022
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Unpacking Black Hole Complementarity
To what extent does the black hole information paradox lead to violations of quantum mechanics? I explain how black hole complementarity provides a framework to articulate how quantum…
Siddharth MuthukrishnanOct 28, 2022
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"The sun was darkened for seventeen days (AD 797)". An interdisciplinary exploration of celestial phenomena between Byzantium, Charlemagne, and a volcanic eruption
The blinding of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI in Constantinople in August 797 and his overthrow by his mother Eirene, who then until 802 ruled as first female emperor of the Eastern Roman…
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Ewald KislingerOct 27, 2022
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Explanatory Depth in Primordial Cosmology: A Comparative Study of Inflationary and Bouncing Paradigms
We develop and apply a multi-dimensional account of explanatory depth towards a comparative analysis of inflationary and bouncing paradigms in primordial cosmology. Our analysis builds on earlier…
William J. Wolf, Karim P. Y. ThébaultOct 26, 2022
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Analysis of Ayscough's Telescope Adapted to Use at Sea
An unambiguous accordance between an objective lens for Ayscough's telescope 'Adapted to Use at Sea' and another compound lens which was described by William Eastland in well-known Quere during the…
Igor NesterenkoOct 23, 2022
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Satyendra Nath Bose: Quantum statistics to Bose-Einstein condensation
Satyendra Nath Bose is one of the great Indian scientists. His remarkable work on the black body radiation or derivation of Planck's law led to quantum statistics, in particular, the statistics of…
Golam Ali Sekh, Benoy TalukdarOct 17, 2022
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The Simplicity of Physical Laws
Physical laws are strikingly simple, yet there is no a priori reason for them to be so. I propose that nomic realists -- Humeans and non-Humeans -- should recognize simplicity as a fundamental…
Eddy Keming ChenOct 14, 2022
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Freedom in the many-worlds interpretation
I analyze the possibility of free-will in the many-worlds interpretation (MWI), arguing for their compatibility. I use as a starting point Nicolas Gisin's "The Multiverse Pandemic" (preprint…
Ovidiu Cristinel StoicaOct 14, 2022
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Unpredictability is perfectly possible in a deterministic universe
We revisit the vexed question of how unpredictability can arise in a deterministic universe, focusing on unitary quantum theory. We discuss why quantum unpredictability is irrelevant for the…
Chiara Marletto, Vlatko VedralOct 13, 2022
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The Multiverse Pandemic
I argue against the many-world interpretation (MWI) of quantum theory by emphasizing that when everything is entangled with everything else, in one big monstrous piece, there is no room left for…
Nicolas GisinOct 10, 2022
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