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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 39

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The Cosmic Void
What exists at the fundamental level of reality? On the standard picture, the fundamental reality contains (among other things) fundamental matter, such as particles, fields, or even the quantum…
Eddy Keming ChenOct 22, 2021
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How to Choose a Gauge? The case of Hamiltonian Electromagnetism
We develop some ideas about gauge symmetry in the context of Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism in the Hamiltonian formalism. One great benefit of this formalism is that it pairs momentum and…
Henrique Gomes, Jeremy ButterfieldOct 22, 2021
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John Dollond's Prismatic Experiments: The Beginning of a Long Way
The English optician John Dollond (1706-1761) performed a number of experiments with prisms of various transparent materials and concluded that an achromatic lens could exist. At that time, the…
Igor NesterenkoOct 17, 2021
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The complex timeless emergence of time in quantum gravity
We present the arguments suggesting that time is emergent in quantum gravity and discuss extensively, but without any technical detail, the many aspects that can be involved in such emergence. We…
Daniele OritiOct 16, 2021
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Mathematical Responses to the Hole Argument: Then and Now
We argue that several apparently distinct responses to the hole argument, all invoking formal or mathematical considerations, should be viewed as a unified "mathematical response". We then consider…
Clara Bradley, James Owen WeatherallOct 15, 2021
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The Fine-Tuning of the Universe for Life
When a physicist says that a theory is fine-tuned, they mean that it must make a suspiciously precise assumption in order to explain a certain observation. This is evidence that the theory is…
Luke A. BarnesOct 15, 2021
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Determinism Beyond Time Evolution
Physicists are increasingly beginning to take seriously the possibility of laws outside the traditional time-evolution paradigm; yet our understanding of determinism is still predicated on a forwards…
Emily AdlamOct 14, 2021
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Noether charges: the link between empirical significance of symmetries and non-separability
A fundamental tenet of gauge theory is that physical quantities should be gauge-invariant. This prompts the question: can gauge symmetries have physical significance? On one hand, the Noether…
Henrique GomesOct 14, 2021
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Same-diff? Conceptual similarities between gauge transformations and diffeomorphisms. Part II: Challenges to sophistication
The following questions are germane to our understanding of gauge-(in)variant quantities and physical possibility: how are gauge transformations and spacetime diffeomorphisms understood as…
Henrique GomesOct 14, 2021
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Same-diff? Conceptual similarities between gauge transformations and diffeomorphisms. Part I: Symmetries and isomorphisms
The following questions are germane to our understanding of gauge-(in)variant quantities and physical possibility: how are gauge transformations and spacetime diffeomorphisms understood as…
Henrique GomesOct 14, 2021
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Bell's theorem: A bridge between the measurement and the mind/body problems
In this essay a quantum-dualistic, perspectival and synchronistic interpretation of quantum mechanics is further developed in which the classical world-from-decoherence which is perceived…
Badis YdriOct 13, 2021
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Characterizing the Immaterial. Noninvasive Imaging and Analysis of Stephen Benton's Hologram Engine no. 9
Invented in 1962, holography is a unique merging of art and technology. It persisted at the scientific cutting edge through the 1990s, when digital imaging emerged and supplanted film. Today,…
Marc Walton, Pengxiao Hao, Marc Vermeulen et al.Oct 12, 2021
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"Philosophysics" at the University of Vienna: The (pre-)history of foundations of quantum physics in the Viennese cultural context
Vienna today is one of the capitals for the research on foundations of quantum physics. In this paper we reconstruct the main historical steps of the development of modern physics in Vienna, with an…
Flavio Del Santo, Emanuel SchwarzhansOct 11, 2021
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On the mathematics and metaphysics of the hole argument
We make some remarks on the mathematics and metaphysics of the hole argument, in response to a recent article in this journal by Weatherall ([2018]). Broadly speaking, we defend the mainstream…
Oliver Pooley, James ReadOct 8, 2021
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The physicist Enrique Loedel Palumbo in the Montevideo-Buenos Aires-La Plata scientific corridor: 1920-1930
In this paper we consider Montevideo's liberal progressive atmosphere towards the end of the nineteenth century and, within it, the trajectory of young science student Enrique Loedel Palumbo. We…
Alejandro Gangui, Eduardo L. OrtizOct 7, 2021
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The Life and Science of Thanu Padmanabhan
Thanu Padmanabhan was a renowned Indian theoretical physicist known for his research in general relativity, cosmology, and quantum gravity. In an extraordinary career spanning forty-two years, he…
Jasjeet Singh Bagla, Krishnakanta Bhattacharya, Sumanta Chakraborty et al.Oct 7, 2021
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The River and the Sky: Astronomy and Topography in Caral Society, America's First Urban Centers
America's first urban centres were allegedly located at the Supe Valley sites in Peru. After investigating the location and the orientation of the main built structures, we show that it is not only…
A. César González-García, Aldemar Crispín, Ruth Shady Solís et al.Oct 6, 2021
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Physics of complex systems: Discovery in the age of Goedel
From the perspective of the physics of complex systems (1) we deal with the current state of mod-ern physics including the crisis in physics demonstrated through its epistemological, psychological,…
Dragutin T. Mihailovic, Darko Kapor, Sinisa Crvenkovic et al.Oct 5, 2021
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Revisitando o Experimento de Erat\'ostenes: medida do raio de Terra
In this work, we measure the volumetric mean radius of the Earth, reproducing the historical experiment of Eratosthenes, carried out around 240 BC, in the ancient cities of Siena and Alexandria.…
Levi O. de A. Azevedo, Orlando S. Ribeiro, Natanael C. Costa et al.Oct 2, 2021
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Gauge Symmetries, Symmetry Breaking, and Gauge-Invariant Approaches
Gauge symmetries play a central role, both in the mathematical foundations as well as the conceptual construction of modern (particle) physics theories. However, it is yet unclear whether they form a…
Philipp Berghofer, Jordan François, Simon Friederich et al.Oct 1, 2021
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Laws of Nature as Constraints
The laws of nature have come a long way since the time of Newton: quantum mechanics and relativity have given us good reasons to take seriously the possibility of laws which may be non-local,…
Emily AdlamSep 28, 2021
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Lack of Value Definiteness in Quantum Gravity
In this paper we consider the observables describing fundamental spatiotemporal properties and relations in the context of Quantum Gravity (QG). As we will show, in both Loop Quantum Gravity and in…
Enrico Cinti, Cristian Mariani, Marco SanchioniSep 21, 2021
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Governing Without A Fundamental Direction of Time: Minimal Primitivism about Laws of Nature
The Great Divide in metaphysical debates about laws of nature is between Humeans, who think that laws merely describe the distribution of matter, and non-Humeans, who think that laws govern it. The…
Eddy Keming Chen, Sheldon GoldsteinSep 19, 2021
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The Ontology and Semantics of Quantum Theory for Quantum Gravity
Based on a clear ontology of material individuals, we analyze in detail the factual semantics of quantum theory, and argue that the basic mathematical formalism of quantum theory is just okay with (a…
Alejandro AscárateSep 18, 2021
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Neo-Lorentzian Relativity and the Beginning of the Universe
Many physicists have thought that absolute time became otiose with the introduction of Special Relativity. William Lane Craig disagrees and argues that although relativity is empirically adequate…
Daniel LinfordSep 17, 2021
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