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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 83

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The orientation as a signature of cultural identity: The historic churches of Lanzarote
The orientation of Christian churches is a well-known distinctive feature of their architecture. There is a general tendency to align their apses in the solar range, favoring orientations close to…
Alejandro Gangui, A. Cesar Gonzalez Garcia, Maria Antonia Perera Betancort et al.Apr 13, 2016
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More problems for Newtonian cosmology
I point out a radical indeterminism in potential-based formulations of Newtonian gravity once we drop the condition that the potential vanishes at infinity (as is necessary, and indeed celebrated, in…
David WallaceApr 12, 2016
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Creation, Chaos, Time : from Myth to Modern Cosmology
Every society has a story rooted in its most ancient traditions, of how the earth and sky originated. Most of these stories attribute the origin of all things to a Creator - whether God, Element or…
Jean-Pierre LuminetApr 12, 2016
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Some Early Ideas on the Metric Geometry of Thermodynamics
It is a pleasure to write for this 90'th anniversary volume of Journal of Low Temperature Physics dedicated to Horst Meyer at Duke University. I was a PhD student with Horst in the period…
George RuppeinerApr 9, 2016
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Stirling Stuff
Robert Stirling's patent for what was essentially a new type of engine to create work from heat was submitted in 1816. Its reception was underwhelming and although the idea was sporadically…
John S. ReidApr 8, 2016
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Archaeoastronomy and the orientation of old churches
Cultural astronomy is an interdisciplinary area of research that studies how perceptions and concepts related to the sky are part of the worldview of a culture. One of its branches, archaeoastronomy,…
Alejandro GanguiApr 1, 2016
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40 years of the Nobel prize in physics: then and now
The findings for which Aage Bohr and Ben R. Mottelson became co-winners of the 1975 Nobel prize in physics provided the basis for a comprehensive and operative answer to the central problem in the…
Ricardo A. BrogliaMar 30, 2016
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Comparing Dualities and Gauge Symmetries
We discuss some aspects of the relation between dualities and gauge symmetries. Both of these ideas are of course multi-faceted, and we confine ourselves to making two points. Both points are about…
Sebastian De Haro, Nicholas Teh, Jeremy N. ButterfieldMar 28, 2016
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Einstein's Physical Strategy, Energy Conservation, Symmetries, and Stability: "but Grossmann & I believed that the conservation laws were not satisfied"
Recent work on the history of General Relativity by Renn, Sauer, Janssen et al. shows that Einstein found his field equations partly by a physical strategy including the Newtonian limit, the…
J. Brian PittsMar 24, 2016
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Robert Dicke and the naissance of experimental gravity physics, 1957-1967
The experimental study of gravity became much more active in the late 1950s, a change pronounced enough be termed the birth, or naissance, of experimental gravity physics. I present a review of…
P. J. E. PeeblesMar 21, 2016
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Yet another symmetry breaking to be discovered
The discovery of spontaneous symmetry breaking in particle physics was the greatest contribution in Nambu's achievements. There is another class of symmetries that exist in the low energy nature,…
M. YoshimuraMar 14, 2016
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Spooky Action at No Distance: On the individuation of quantum mechanical systems
Recent experiments have perfectly verified the fact that quantum correlations between two entangled particles are stronger than any classical, local pre-quantum worldview allows. This is famously…
David WeinbaumMar 11, 2016
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The scientific impact of Einstein's visit to Argentina, in 1925
The arrival of Albert Einstein in Argentina in 1925 had an impact, equally relevant, on the scientific community and on the general public. In this paper we discuss that visit from three different…
Alejandro Gangui, Eduardo L. OrtizMar 11, 2016
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Kinematics, Dynamics, and the Structure of Physical Theory
Every physical theory has (at least) two different forms of mathematical equations to represent its target systems: the dynamical (equations of motion) and the kinematical (kinematical constraints).…
Erik CurielMar 9, 2016
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Thick Presentism and Newtonian Mechanics
In the present paper I argue that the formalism of Newtonian mechanics stems directly from the general principle to be called the principle of microlevel reducibility which physical systems obey in…
Ihor LubashevskyMar 6, 2016
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Niels Bohr on the wave function and the classical/quantum divide
It is well known that Niels Bohr insisted on the necessity of classical concepts in the account of quantum phenomena. But there is little consensus concerning his reasons, and what he exactly meant…
Henrik ZinkernagelMar 1, 2016
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Are we living in a quantum world? Bohr and quantum fundamentalism
The spectacular successes of quantum physics have made it a commonplace to assert that we live in a quantum world. This idea seems to imply a kind of "quantum fundamentalism" according to…
Henrik ZinkernagelMar 1, 2016
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The Ancient Astronomy of Easter Island: Venus and Aldebaran
One additional position of the famous Mataveri calendar of Easter Island has been interpreted. New data on the watchings of Venus and Aldebaran have been rendered. Some reports about the sun, the…
Sergei RjabchikovFeb 28, 2016
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Can Economics Afford Not To Become Natural Science?
The 'Discussion & Debate' issue of this Euro. Phys. J. Special Topic volume is: 'Can economics be a Physical Science?' I would rather address a more general question: 'Can…
Bikas K. ChakrabartiFeb 26, 2016
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BCS, Nambu-Jona-Lasinio, and Han-Nambu -- A sketch of Nambu's works in 1960-1965
The years of 1960-1965 were a remarkable period for Yoichiro Nambu. Starting with a reformulation of BCS theory with emphasis on gauge invariance, he recognized the realization of spontaneous chiral…
Kazuo FujikawaFeb 26, 2016
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Is General Relativity a (partial) Return of Aristotelian Physics?
Aristotle has split physics at the sphere of the moon; above this sphere there is no change except eternal spherical motion, below are two different kinds of motion: Natural motion (without specific…
Herbert PietschmannFeb 23, 2016
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The infinite turn and speculative explanations in cosmology
Infinity, in various guises, has been invoked recently in order to `explain' a number of important questions regarding observable phenomena in science, and in particular in cosmology. Such…
Reza Tavakol, Fabio GironiFeb 22, 2016
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A Metaphysical Reflection on the Notion of Background in Modern Spacetime Physics
The paper presents a metaphysical characterization of spatiotemporal backgrounds from a realist perspective. The conceptual analysis is based on a heuristic sketch that encompasses the common formal…
Antonio VassalloFeb 19, 2016
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Free Will - A road less travelled in quantum information
Conway and Kochen's Free Will Theory is examined as an important foundational element in a new area of activity in computer science - developing protocols for quantum computing
Ilyas KhanFeb 16, 2016
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Personal recollections: Frascati and the search for gravitational waves at the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)
The history of the gravitational wave experiments at the Frascati National Laboratories of INFN is described, from the early suggestion of Edoardo Amaldi to the realization of NAUTILUS, the most…
Guido PizzellaFeb 15, 2016
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