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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 86

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The battle of High Temperature Superconductivity
The early development of conflicting theories about the microscopic mechanism of High Temperature Superconductivity is described. The biographical roots of this diversity are stressed, as well as its…
Pascal LedererOct 29, 2015
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Murray Gell-Mann, A Short Appreciation
On September 25, 2014 Murray Gell-Mann was presented with the Helmholz Medal of the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities in a ceremony at the Santa Fe Institute. The author, among…
James B. HartleOct 29, 2015
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Klein's "Erlanger Programm": do traces of it exist in physical theories?
A possible influence of Klein's Erlangen program on physical theories is investigated. While some connections are found, it is concluded that Lie's theory of transformation groups and Lie…
Hubert GoennerOct 28, 2015
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A quarter century of astrophysics with Japan
On February 23 1987 a supernova (exploding star) was observed in the Large Cloud of Magellan, the brightest supernova in 400 years. It spurred the commencement of collaborative research in…
Philip YockOct 19, 2015
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An Appreciation of Berni Julian Alder
Berni Julian Alder profoundly influenced my research career at the Livermore Laboratory and the Davis Campus' Teller Tech, beginning in 1962 and lasting for over fifty years. I very much…
William Graham HooverOct 17, 2015
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The Twilight of Determinism: At Least in Biophysical Novelties
In the 1990s, Richard Lewontin referred to what appeared to be the twilight of determinism in biology. He pointed out that DNA determines only a little part of life phenomena, which are very complex.…
Amihud GileadOct 15, 2015
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On Arthur Eddington's Theory of Everything
From 1929 to his death in 1944, A. Eddington worked on developing a highly ambitious theory of fundamental physics that covered everything in the physical world, from the tiny electron to the…
Helge KraghOct 14, 2015
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Objective information in the empiricist view of von Weizsäcker
We analyze von Weizsäcker view regarding the concept of information in physics. In his view, information arises from the reduction of properties of a physical object to their logical descriptive…
Iman Khatam, Afshin ShafieeOct 13, 2015
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What is matter? The fundamental ontology of atomism and structural realism
We set out a fundamental ontology of atomism in terms of matter points. While being most parsimonious, this ontology is able to match both classical and quantum mechanics, and it remains a viable…
Michael Esfeld, Dirk-André Deckert, Andrea OldofrediOct 13, 2015
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Astronomy and Astrophysics in the Philosophy of Science
This article looks at philosophical aspects and questions that modern astrophysical research gives rise to. Other than cosmology, astrophysics particularly deals with understanding phenomena and…
Sibylle AnderlOct 12, 2015
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A Note on Fourier and the Greenhouse Effect
Joseph Fourier's discovery of the greenhouse effect is discussed and is compared to the modern conception of the greenhouse effect. It is confirmed that what Fourier discovered is analogous to…
Joseph E. PostmaOct 8, 2015
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Bruno Touschek, from Betatrons to Electron-positron Colliders
Bruno Touschek's life as a physicist spanned the period from World War II to the 1970s. He was a key figure in the developments of electron-positron colliders, storage rings, and gave important…
Carlo Bernardini, Giulia Pancheri, Claudio PellegriniOct 4, 2015
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Weyl's search for a difference between `physical' and `mathematical' automorphisms
During his whole scientific life Hermann Weyl was fascinated by the interrelation of physical and mathematical theories. From the mid 1920s onward he reflected also on the typical difference between…
Erhard ScholzOct 1, 2015
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Quantum Field Theory as a Faithful Image of Nature
"All men by nature desire to know," states Aristotle in the famous first sentence of his Metaphysics. Knowledge about fundamental particles and interactions, that is, knowledge about the…
Hans Christian ÖttingerSep 30, 2015
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Conceptual Aspects of Gauge/Gravity Duality
We give an introductory review of gauge/gravity duality, and associated ideas of holography, emphasising the conceptual aspects. The opening Sections gather the ingredients, viz. anti-de Sitter…
Sebastian De Haro, Daniel R. Mayerson, Jeremy N. ButterfieldSep 30, 2015
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On the ontology of spacetime
I present a discussion of some issues in the ontology of spacetime. After a characterisation of the controversies among relationists, substantivalists, eternalists, and presentists, I offer a new…
Gustavo E. RomeroSep 30, 2015
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Über die Beziehung der begrifflichen Grundlagen der Quantentheorie und der Allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie
In this dissertation the question of the unification of quantum theory and general relativity is treated. Based on the conceptual structure of these theories and under incorporation of certain ideas…
Martin KoberSep 24, 2015
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If Metrical Structure Were Not Dynamical, Counterfactuals in General Relativity Would Be Easy
General relativity poses serious problems for counterfactual propositions peculiar to it as a physical theory. Because these problems arise solely from the dynamical nature of spacetime geometry,…
Erik CurielSep 13, 2015
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Space-time Philosophy Reconstructed via Massive Nordström Scalar Gravities? Laws vs. Geometry, Conventionality, and Underdetermination
Klein-Gordon gravity, 1920s-30s particle physics, and 1890s Neumann-Seeliger modified gravity suggest a "graviton mass term" *algebraic* in the potential. Unlike Nordström's…
J. Brian PittsSep 9, 2015
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Godel's Incompleteness Theorems and Platonic Metaphysics
We argue by using Godel's incompletness theorems in logic that platonism is the best metaphysics for science. This is based on the fact that a natural law in a platonic metaphysics represents a…
Aleksandar MikovicSep 9, 2015
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Electric charge in hyperbolic motion: The early history and other geometrical aspects
We revisit the early work of Minkowski and Sommerfeld concerning hyperbolic motion, and we describe some geometrical aspects of the electrodynamic interaction. We discuss the advantages of a time…
Calin GaleriuSep 7, 2015
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Les interprétations de la mécanique quantique : une vue d'ensemble introductive
La mécanique quantique est une théorie physique contemporaine réputée pour ses défis au sens commun et ses paradoxes. Depuis bientôt un siècle, plusieurs interprétations de la théorie ont été…
Thomas Boyer-KassemSep 7, 2015
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General Relativity
This is an English translation of the Italian version of an encyclopedia chapter that appeared in the Italian Encyclopedia of the Physical Sciences, edited by Bruno Bertotti (1994). Following…
V. Canuto, I. GoldmanSep 3, 2015
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On the Nature of Time
The paper puts forward a conceptual framework in which the phenomenon of time can be presented and discussed in a proper way. We argue that change is ontologically and epistemologically a more basic…
Mario RadovanSep 2, 2015
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Can Bohmian Mechanics Be Made Background Independent?
The paper presents an inquiry into the question regarding the compatibility of Bohmian mechanics, intended as a non-local theory of moving point-like particles, with background independence. This…
Antonio VassalloSep 2, 2015
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