On the status of conservation laws in physics: Implications for semiclassical gravity

Q1 Arts and Humanities

Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics Pub Date : 2020-02-01 DOI:10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.10.004

Tim Maudlin , Elias Okon , Daniel Sudarsky

引用次数: 27

Abstract

We start by surveying the history of the idea of a fundamental conservation law and briefly examine the role conservation laws play in different classical contexts. In such contexts we find conservation laws to be useful, but often not essential. Next we consider the quantum setting, where the conceptual problems of the standard formalism obstruct a rigorous analysis of the issue. We then analyze the fate of energy conservation within the various viable paths to address such conceptual problems; in all cases we find no satisfactory way to define a (useful) notion of energy that is generically conserved. Finally, we focus on the implications of this for the semiclassical gravity program and conclude that Einstein's equations cannot be said to always hold.

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论守恒定律在物理学中的地位:对半经典引力的启示

我们首先考察基本守恒定律概念的历史，并简要考察守恒定律在不同经典背景下所扮演的角色。在这种情况下，我们发现守恒定律是有用的，但往往不是必要的。接下来，我们考虑量子设置，其中标准形式主义的概念问题阻碍了对该问题的严格分析。然后，我们分析了各种可行路径内节能的命运，以解决这些概念问题;在所有情况下,我们找不到满意的方式来定义一个(有用的)一般的能量守恒的概念。最后，我们将重点放在这对半经典引力程序的影响上，并得出爱因斯坦方程不能总是成立的结论。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 物理-科学史与科学哲学

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

13.3 weeks

期刊介绍： Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics is devoted to all aspects of the history and philosophy of modern physics broadly understood, including physical aspects of astronomy, chemistry and other non-biological sciences. The primary focus is on physics from the mid/late-nineteenth century to the present, the period of emergence of the kind of theoretical physics that has come to dominate the exact sciences in the twentieth century. The journal is internationally oriented with contributions from a wide range of perspectives. In addition to purely historical or philosophical papers, the editors particularly encourage papers that combine these two disciplines. The editors are also keen to publish papers of interest to physicists, as well as specialists in history and philosophy of physics.