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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 63

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On the interpretation of Feynman diagrams, or, did the LHC experiments observe H → γ γ?
According to the received view Feynman diagrams are a bookkeeping device in complex perturbative calculations. Thus, they do not provide a representation or model of the underlying physical process.…
Oliver PassonJan 8, 2019
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In memoriam Leonid V. Keldysh
Leonid Keldysh -- one of the most influential theoretical physicists of the 20th century -- passed away in November 2016. Keldysh is best known for the diagrammatic formulation of real-time…
Michael Bonitz, Antti-Pekka Jauho, Michael Sadovski et al.Jan 4, 2019
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Touschek with AdA in Orsay and the first direct observation of electron-positron collisions
We describe how the first direct observation of electron-positron collisions took place in 1963-1964 at the Laboratoire de l'Acc\'el\'erateur Lin\'eaire d'Orsay, in France, with the storage ring AdA,…
Giulia Pancheri, Luisa BonolisDec 31, 2018
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Neutrino, parity violaton, V-A: a historical survey
A concise story of the rise of the four fermion theory of the universal weak interaction and its experimental confirmation, with a special emphasis on the problems related to parity violation.
Ludmil HadjiivanovDec 30, 2018
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The third family of neutrinos
This paper retraces the 24 years starting with the appearance of the symbol "τ" in 1977, until the observation of tau neutrino interactions with matter in 2000. The fact that the neutral…
Alain BlondelDec 29, 2018
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Two Notions of Naturalness
My aim in this paper is twofold: (i) to distinguish two notions of naturalness employed in BSM physics and (ii) to argue that recognizing this distinction has methodological consequences. One notion…
Porter WilliamsDec 21, 2018
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Mind before matter: reversing the arrow of fundamentality
In this contribution to FQXi's essay contest 2018, I suggest that it is sometimes a step forward to reverse our intuition on "what is fundamental", a move that is somewhat reminiscent of the idea of…
Markus P. MuellerDec 20, 2018
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Pion Interactions and the Standard Model at High Precision
Pions were predicted by H. Yukawa as force carriers of the inter-nucleon forces, and were detected in 1947. Today they are known to be bound states of quarks and anti-quarks of the two lightest…
B. Ananthanarayan, Shayan GhoshDec 20, 2018
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Chronic Incompleteness, Final Theory Claims, and the Lack of Free Parameters in String Theory
String theory has not even come close to a complete formulation after half a century of intense research. On the other hand, a number of features of the theory suggest that the theory, once…
Richard DawidDec 18, 2018
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On the Universality of Hawking Radiation
A physically consistent semi-classical treatment of black holes requires universality arguments to deal with the `trans-Planckian' problem where quantum spacetime effects appear to be amplified such…
Sean Gryb, Patricia Palacios, Karim ThébaultDec 17, 2018
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Some Philosophical Prehistory of the (Earman-Norton) Hole Argument
The celu of the philosophical literature on the hole argument is the 1987 paper by Earman \& Norton ["What Price Space-time Substantivalism? The Hole Story" Br. J. Phil. Sci.]. This paper has a…
James Owen WeatherallDec 11, 2018
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On Probability and Cosmology: Inference Beyond Data?
Modern scientific cosmology pushes the boundaries of knowledge and the knowable. This is prompting questions on the nature of scientific knowledge. A central issue is what defines a 'good' model.…
Martin SahlénDec 10, 2018
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Why determinism in physics has no implications for free will
This paper argues for the following three theses: (1) There is a clear reason to prefer physical theories with deterministic dynamical equations: such theories are maximally rich in information and…
Michael EsfeldDec 9, 2018
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An exposition of special relativity without appeal to "constancy of speed of light" hypotheses
We present the theory of special relativity here through the lens of differential geometry. In particular, we explicitly avoid any reference to hypotheses of the form "The laws of physics take the…
Amitabh BasuDec 9, 2018
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Feynman's proof of the commutativity of the Calogero integrals of motion
During his last year of life Feynman became interested in integrable models. In the course of his study of one dimensional particles with inverse square-type potentials (the Calogero class of models)…
Alexios P. PolychronakosDec 6, 2018
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Of Naturalness and Complexity
It is argued that the occurrence of disproportionately ("un-natural") large (or small) numbers, as well as deep cancellations, are comparatively natural traits of the way Nature is geared to operate…
Sauro SucciDec 6, 2018
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Why Not Categorical Equivalence?
In recent years philosophers of science have explored categorical equivalence as a promising criterion for when two (physical) theories are equivalent. On the one hand, philosophers have presented…
James Owen WeatherallDec 3, 2018
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Computational Chemistry as Voodoo Quantum Mechanics : Models, Parameterization, and Software
Computational chemistry grew in a new era of "desktop modeling", which coincided with a growing demand for modeling software, especially from the pharmaceutical industry. Parameterization of models…
Frédéric Wieber, Alexandre HocquetDec 3, 2018
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The China crisis
The so-called China crisis, well documented in History of the IAU by Adriaan Blaauw and in Under the Same Starry Sky: History of the IAU by Chengqi Fu and Shuhua Ye, refers…
Xiaowei LiuNov 27, 2018
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A citation history of measurements of Newtons constant of Gravity
We created and analyzed a citation history of papers covering measurements of Newtons constant of gravity from 1686 to 2016. Interest concerning the true value of the gravitational constant was most…
Katelyn Horstman, Virginia TrimbleNov 26, 2018
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Proposal for a degree of scientificity in cosmology
In spite of successful tests, the standard cosmological model, the model, possesses the most problematic concept: the initial singularity, also known as the big bang. In this paper---by…
Juliano C. S. NevesNov 24, 2018
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A sincere tribute to E.C.G Sudarshan's phenomenal contribution toward quantum theory of optical coherence
The diagonal representation and optical equivalence theorem are the E. C. G. Sudarshan's mid 20th century adventures in non-classical optics. It basically deals with a quantum mechanical description…
Arindam Kumar Chatterjee, Anik Rudra, Soham ChakrabortyNov 21, 2018
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Mechanical resonance: 300 years from discovery to the full understanding of its importance
Starting from the observation that the simplest form of forced mechanical oscillation serves as a standard model for analyzing a broad variety of resonance processes in many fields of physics and…
Jörn Bleck-NeuhausNov 20, 2018
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Gravitation and General Relativity at King's College London
This essay concerns the study of gravitation and general relativity at King's College London (KCL). It covers developments since the nineteenth century but its main focus is on the quarter of a…
D. C. RobinsonNov 18, 2018
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The black hole fifty years after: Genesis of the name
Black holes are extreme spacetime deformations where even light is imprisoned. There is an extensive astrophysical evidence for the real and abundant existence of these prisons of matter and light in…
Carlos A. R. Herdeiro, José P. S. LemosNov 15, 2018
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