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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 67

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Naturalness, Extra-Empirical Theory Assessments, and the Implications of Skepticism
Naturalness is an extra-empirical quality that aims to assess plausibility of a theory. Finetuning measures are often deputized to quantify the task. However, knowing statistical distributions on…
James D. WellsJun 19, 2018
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Theoretical reconstruction of Galileo's two-bucket experiment
In the present work, we address the solution of a problem extracted from a historical context, in which Galileo supposedly conducted an experiment to measure the percussion force of a water jet. To…
Sylvio R. BistafaJun 16, 2018
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Robert Gibson and teaching philosophy of nature in 18th century Ireland
The dissemination of natural philosophy in the 18th-century, which was based primarily on Newton's pioneering work in mechanics, optics and astrophysics, is presented as seen through a remarkable…
Michael NauenbergJun 13, 2018
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When the actual world is not even possible
Approaches to quantum gravity often involve the disappearance of space and time at the fundamental level. The metaphysical consequences of this disappearance are profound, as is illustrated with…
Christian WuthrichJun 8, 2018
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The Planets in Indigenous Australian Traditions
Studies in Australian Indigenous astronomical knowledge reveal few accounts of the visible planets in the sky. However, what information we do have tells us that Aboriginal people were close…
Duane W. Hamacher, Kirsten BanksJun 6, 2018
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My life with GianCarlo Ghirardi, a great friend, a great teacher and a great physicist
In these shorts notes I want to remembermy relationship with GianCarlo Ghirardi, who was my supervisor in my Master Degree in Physics at the University of Trieste and then he became a very deep and…
Francesco de StefanoJun 6, 2018
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On Dualities and Equivalences Between Physical Theories
The main aim of this paper is to make a remark about the relation between (i) dualities between theories, as `duality' is understood in physics and (ii) equivalence of theories, as `equivalence' is…
Jeremy ButterfieldJun 5, 2018
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Experimental tests of Bertrand's question and the Duhem-Quine problem
In this paper we report on an experimental test of Bertrand's question on the probability to find a random chord drawn inside a unit-radius circle with length greater than 3. In an…
Zhenning Liu, Charles S. AdamsJun 1, 2018
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Decoding European Palaeolithic art: Extremely ancient knowledge of precession of the equinoxes
A consistent interpretation is provided for Neolithic Gobekli Tepe and Catalhoyuk as well as European Palaeolithic cave art. It appears they all display the same method for recording dates based on…
Martin B. Sweatman, Alistair CoombsMay 31, 2018
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Temporal relationalism
Because of the non-locality of quantum entanglement, realist approaches to completing quantum mechanics have implications for our conception of space. Quantum gravity also is expected to predict…
Lee SmolinMay 31, 2018
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Physics Needs Philosophy. Philosophy Needs Physics
Contrary to claims about the irrelevance of philosophy for science, I argue that philosophy has had, and still has, far more influence on physics than is commonly assumed. I maintain that the current…
Carlo RovelliMay 27, 2018
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Bruno Touschek and AdA: from Frascati to Orsay. In memory of Bruno Touschek, who passed away 40 years ago, on May 25th, 1978
The first electron-positron collisions in a laboratory were observed in 1963-1964 at the Laboratoire de l'Acc\'el\'erateur Lin\'eaire d'Orsay, in France, with the storage ring AdA, which had been…
Luisa Bonolis, Giulia PancheriMay 23, 2018
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The Stern-Gerlach Experiment and the Electron Spin
The full story of the Stern-Gerlach experiment and its reception, interpretation and final understanding has many unexpected surprises. Here, we review the history and the context of the proposal,…
Sandip PakvasaMay 23, 2018
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A simple derivation of the two force laws for elliptic orbits from Proposition 6 in Newton's Principia
Based on Propostion 6 of his Principia, Newton's geometrical derivation in Propositions 10 and 11 for the radial dependence of the two central forces that lead to elliptical orbits is notoriously…
Michael NauenbergMay 22, 2018
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Visiting Newton's Atelier before the Principia, 1679-1684
The manuscripts that presumably contained Newton's early development of the fundamental concepts that led to his Principia have been lost. A plausible reconstruction of this development is presened…
Michael NauenbergMay 17, 2018
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What is "fundamental"?
Our collective views regarding the question "what is fundamental?" are continually evolving. These ontological shifts in what we regard as fundamental are largely driven by theoretical advances…
Matt VisserMay 17, 2018
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Why Be Regular? Part I
We provide a novel perspective on "regularity" as a property of representations of the Weyl algebra. We first critique a proposal by Halvorson [2004, "Complementarity of representations in quantum…
Benjamin Feintzeig, JB, Manchak et al.May 15, 2018
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Why Be Regular? Part II
We provide a novel perspective on "regularity" as a property of representations of the Weyl algebra. In Part I, we critiqued a proposal by Halvorson [2004, "Complementarity of representations in…
Benjamin Feintzeig, James Owen WeatherallMay 15, 2018
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Experiments with ultracold neutrons - first 50 years
This year is 50 anniversary of the first experimental observation of ultracold neutrons (UCN). I present my reminiscences of the first experiment in Dubna, first encounter with F.L. Shapiro --…
Yu. N. PokotilovskiMay 14, 2018
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A Few Recollections of Stephen
On the evening after Stephen Hawking's funeral in Cambridge on March 31, 2018 a dinner for attendees who had come from far away was hosted by Paul Shellard, the Director of the Centre for Theoretical…
James HartleMay 13, 2018
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When physics meets biology: a less known Feynman
We discuss a less known aspect of Feynman's multifaceted scientific work, centered about his interest in molecular biology, which came out around 1959 and lasted for several years. After a quick…
Marco Di Mauro, Salvatore Esposito, Adele NaddeoMay 10, 2018
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Stephen Hawking (1942-2018), Towards a Complete Understanding of the Universe
Two of the major achievements of Stephen Hawking are described in elementary terms. They are his work on the beginning of the universe and his work on the end of black holes. These are perhaps the…
James HartleMay 9, 2018
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Jacob Bekenstein and the Development of Black Hole Thermodynamics
I give some personal reflections on Jacob Bekenstein's pioneering work on associating an entropy to a black hole proportional to its area and on the generalized second law of thermodynamics.
Robert M. WaldMay 7, 2018
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Bell's Theory of Beables and the Concept of `Universe'
From its earliest days nearly a century ago, quantum mechanics has proven itself to be a tremendously accurate yet intellectually unsatisfying theory to many. Not the least of its problems is that it…
Ian T. DurhamMay 6, 2018
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Always a Farm Boy
This is the memoir of Brian Dennis - his life story to date, and his involvement with high energy solar physics.
Brian R. DennisApr 30, 2018
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