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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 57

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An Unpublished Debate Brought to Light: Karl Popper's Enterprise against the Logic of Quantum Mechanics
Karl Popper published, in 1968, a paper that allegedly found a flaw in a very influential article of Birkhoff and von Neumann, which pioneered the field of "quantum logic". Nevertheless, nobody…
Flavio Del SantoOct 14, 2019
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Diagnosing Disagreements: The Authentication of the Positron 1931-1934
This paper bridges a historiographical gap in accounts of the prediction and discovery of the positron by combining three ingredients. First, the prediction and discovery of the positron are situated…
Ana-Maria CretuOct 14, 2019
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Holism as the significance of gauge symmetries
Not all symmetries are on a par. For instance, within Newtonian mechanics, we seem to have a good grasp on the empirical significance of boosts, by applying it to subsystems. This is exemplified by…
Henrique GomesOct 11, 2019
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Dependence Relations in General Relativity
The paper discusses from a metaphysical standpoint the nature of the dependence relation underpinning the talk of mutual action between material and spatiotemporal structures in general relativity.…
Antonio VassalloOct 10, 2019
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A contextual analysis of the early work of Andrzej Trautman and Ivor Robinson on equations of motion and gravitational radiation
In a series of papers published in the course of his dissertation work in the mid 1950's, Andrzej Trautman drew upon the slow motion approximation developed by his advisor Infeld, the general…
Donald Salisbury, Daniel KennefickOct 9, 2019
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Supergravity was discovered by D.V. Volkov and V.A. Soroka in 1973, wasn't it?
Supergravity is a remarkable theory combining supersymmetry and general relativity. While the theory has many developers from across the globe, we wish to address the question who were the real…
Steven DuplijOct 8, 2019
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One swallow does not make a summer: 160 years of Richard Carrington's legacy
On 1 September 1859, the British astronomer Richard Carrington observed an anomalous behavior on the Sun. Approximately 17 hours later, magnetic effects of global scales were observed at Earth:…
D. M. OliveiraOct 7, 2019
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Neither Presentism nor Eternalism
Is reality three-dimensional and becoming real (Presentism), or is reality four-dimensional and becoming illusory (Eternalism)? Both options raise difficulties. I argue that we do not need to be…
Carlo RovelliOct 6, 2019
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Edwin P. Hubble, astropol\'itico
Rather than offering chronologically ordered encyclopedic knowledge of a lifetime, only some of the most striking events of the existence of this well-known scientist are here pointed out. Sections:…
Martin Lopez-CorredoiraOct 4, 2019
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A democratic Cosmos?
Despite the success of our best models in Theoretical Physics, especially concerning Cosmology and Particle Physics, we still face persistent challenges. Among them we have the cosmological…
Yigit Yargic, Guilherme FranzmannOct 1, 2019
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Well Temperaments based on the Werckmeister Definition From Werckmeister, passing Vallotti, Bach and Kirnberger, to Equal Temperament Inspired by Kelletat and Amiot
Mathematical steps are developed to obtain optimised well tempered model "temperaments", based on a musical Well Temperament definition by H. Kelletat, that is derived from A. Werckmeister. This…
Johan BroekaertSep 29, 2019
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The hard problem and the measurement problem: a no-go theorem and potential consequences
The "measurement problem" of quantum mechanics, and the "hard problem" of cognitive science are the most profound open problems of the two research fields, and certainly among the deepest of all…
Igor SalomSep 27, 2019
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The construction of Electromagnetism
We examine the construction of electromagnetism in its current form, and in an alternative form, from a point of view that combines a minimal realism with strict demands of reason that we first…
M. A. Natiello, H. G. SolariSep 26, 2019
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Memories of my early career in relativity physics
The text presented here and revised by the authors is based on the original oral history interview by Donald Salisbury with Andrzej Trautman recorded in Warsaw on June 24 and June 28, 2016.
Andrzej Trautman, Donald SalisburySep 26, 2019
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Not the Earth, but its orbit: Andre Tacquet and the question of star sizes in a heliocentric universe
This paper consists of a translation of Andre Tacquet's discussion of the question of sizes of stars in a heliocentric universe, as published in his posthumous Opera Mathematica of 1668, along with…
Christopher M. GraneySep 26, 2019
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Lev Lipatov: my friend and renowned physicist
These notes are written for the book "From the past to the future: the legacy of Lev Lipatov", editors: Jochen Bartels et all, which will be published by WS. I tried to share with you the atmosphere…
Eugene LevinSep 24, 2019
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Ontological Foundations of the Variational Principles and the Path Integral Formalism
In this paper, I consider the issue of how two mathematical models of modern physics, the variational principles and the quantum path integral formalism, relate to reality. I assume that the observed…
Vladislav TerekhovichSep 22, 2019
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Modal Approaches in Metaphysics and Quantum Mechanics
Some interpretations of quantum mechanics use notions of possible states and possible trajectories. I investigate how this modal approach correlates with several metaphysical conceptions of a…
Vladislav TerekhovichSep 22, 2019
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Model Pluralism
This paper introduces and defends an account of model-based science that I dub model pluralism. I argue that despite a growing awareness in the philosophy of science literature of the multiplicity,…
Walter VeitSep 18, 2019
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Redshifts versus paradigm shifts; against renaming Hubble's Law
We consider the proposal by many scholars and by the International Astronomical Union to rename Hubble's law as the Hubble-Lemaitre law. We find the renaming questionable on historic, scientific and…
Cormac O'Raifeartaigh, Michael O'KeeffeSep 17, 2019
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The Science of Murray Gell-Mann
This article summarizes some of the most important scientific contributions of Murray Gell-Mann (1929-2019). (Invited article for Current Science, Indian Academy of Sciences.)
Sanjay Jain, Spenta R. WadiaSep 16, 2019
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How Dualists Should (Not) Respond to the Objection from Energy Conservation
The principle of energy conservation is widely taken to be a serious difficulty for interactionist dualism (whether property or substance). Interactionists often have therefore tried to make it…
Alin C. Cucu, J. Brian PittsSep 13, 2019
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Historical and Philosophical Insights about General Relativity and Space-time from Particle Physics
Historians recently rehabilitated Einstein's "physical strategy" for General Relativity (GR). Independently, particle physicists similarly re-derived Einstein's equations for a massless spin 2 field.…
J. Brian PittsSep 13, 2019
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Toward a quantum theory of gravity: Syracuse 1949-1962
Peter Bergmann and his students embarked in 1949 on a mainly canonical quantization program whose aim was to take into account the underlying four-dimensional diffeomorphism symmetry in the…
Donald SalisburySep 12, 2019
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Scientific relations between Uruguay and Argentina in the 1920s: the exact sciences
The scientific career of Uruguayan theoretical physicist Enrique Loedel Palumbo in Argentina illustrates the intense intellectual exchange that existed between these neighboring countries in the…
Alejandro Gangui, Eduardo L. OrtizSep 5, 2019
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