{"title":"Is time one-dimensional?","authors":"Francisco Caruso","doi":"arxiv-2407.06218","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2407.06218","url":null,"abstract":"In the History of Ideas, a succession of philosophical and scientific\u0000achievements, concerning the concept of space and its dimensionality, were\u0000essential to contribute, after a long period, to the theoretical possibility of\u0000thinking physical time with more than one dimension. Meanwhile, such a progress\u0000brought with it the expectation that one can either understand the role of\u0000dimensionality in the World or disclose how certain physical phenomena depend\u0000on it. Some of these issues are sketched throughout the text, as well as those\u0000remarkable moments in the History of Science where important contributions were\u0000made in order to give a satisfactory answer to the following inescapable\u0000question: -- How many dimensions does time have?","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"54 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141570726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Boltzmann Bridges","authors":"Jordan Scharnhorst, David Wolpert, Carlo Rovelli","doi":"arxiv-2407.02840","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2407.02840","url":null,"abstract":"It is often stated that the second law of thermodynamics follows from the\u0000condition that at some given time in the past the entropy was lower than it is\u0000now. Formally, this condition is the statement that $E[S(t)|S(t_0)]$, the\u0000expected entropy of the universe at the current time $t$ conditioned on its\u0000value $S(t_0)$ at a time $t_0$ in the past, is an increasing function of $t $.\u0000We point out that in general this is incorrect. The epistemic axioms underlying\u0000probability theory say that we should condition expectations on all that we\u0000know, and on nothing that we do not know. Arguably, we know the value of the\u0000universe's entropy at the present time $t$ at least as well as its value at a\u0000time in the past, $t_0$. However, as we show here, conditioning expected\u0000entropy on its value at two times rather than one radically changes its\u0000dynamics, resulting in a unexpected, very rich structure. For example, the\u0000expectation value conditioned on two times can have a maximum at an\u0000intermediate time between $t_0$ and $t$, i.e., in our past. Moreover, it can\u0000have a negative rather than positive time derivative at the present. In such\u0000\"Boltzmann bridge\" situations, the second law would not hold at the present\u0000time. We illustrate and investigate these phenomena for a random walk model and\u0000an idealized gas model, and briefly discuss the role of Boltzmann bridges in\u0000our universe.","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141551910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Three Myths in Complexity Science and How to Resolve Them","authors":"Casper van Elteren","doi":"arxiv-2407.01762","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2407.01762","url":null,"abstract":"From bird flocking to neural dynamics, complex systems generate fascinating\u0000structures and correlations. Often, seemingly simple dynamics lead to intricate\u0000emergent properties. Despite their visceral appeal, defining complex systems\u0000lacks universal agreement. In this paper, I will debunk three prevalent myths\u0000in complex systems and propose resolutions. This work contributes by offering a\u0000contemporary interpretation of complex systems, presenting essential\u0000definitions that benefit complexity scientists.","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141529256","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How do Laws Produce the Future?","authors":"Charles T. Sebens","doi":"arxiv-2407.00210","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2407.00210","url":null,"abstract":"The view that the laws of nature produce later states of the universe from\u0000earlier ones (prominently defended by Maudlin) faces difficult questions as to\u0000how the laws produce the future and whether that production is compatible with\u0000special relativity. This article grapples with those questions, arguing that\u0000the concerns can be overcome through a close analysis of the laws of classical\u0000mechanics and electromagnetism. The view that laws produce the future seems to\u0000require that the laws of nature take a certain form, fitting what Adlam has\u0000called \"the time evolution paradigm.\" Making that paradigm precise, we might\u0000demand that there be temporally local dynamical laws that take properties of\u0000the present and the arbitrarily-short past as input, returning as output\u0000changes in such properties into the arbitrarily-short future. In classical\u0000mechanics, Newton's second law can be fit into this form if we follow a\u0000proposal from Easwaran and understand the acceleration that appears in the law\u0000to capture how velocity (taken to be a property of the present and the\u0000arbitrarily-short past) changes into the arbitrarily-short future. The\u0000dynamical laws of electromagnetism can be fit into this form as well, though\u0000because electromagnetism is a special relativistic theory we might require that\u0000the laws meet a higher standard: linking past light-cone to future light-cone.\u0000With some work, the laws governing the evolution of the vector and scalar\u0000potentials, as well as the evolution of charged matter, can be put in a form\u0000that meets this higher standard.","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141505819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Classical Limit of Teleparallel Gravity","authors":"Helen Meskhidze","doi":"arxiv-2406.17594","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2406.17594","url":null,"abstract":"I consider the classical (i.e., non-relativistic) limit of Teleparallel\u0000Gravity, a relativistic theory of gravity that is empirically equivalent to\u0000General Relativity and features torsional forces. I show that as the speed of\u0000light is allowed to become infinite, Teleparallel Gravity reduces to Newtonian\u0000Gravity without torsion. I compare these results to the torsion-free context\u0000and discuss their implications on the purported underdetermination between\u0000Teleparallel Gravity and General Relativity. I conclude by considering\u0000alternative approaches to the classical limit developed in the literature.","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141505820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Quantum Mechanics as a Carnapian Language","authors":"Iulian D. Toader","doi":"arxiv-2407.07102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2407.07102","url":null,"abstract":"The paper discusses Carnap's claim that a proper philosophical analysis of\u0000quantum mechanics, including a determination of whether its logic has to be\u0000revised, requires a rational reconstruction of the theory. Several\u0000articulations of the notion of rational reconstruction are recalled, followed\u0000by a brief analysis of two standard criticisms of Carnap's claim. The paper\u0000suggests that adopting inferentialism overcomes both criticisms, and then\u0000considers the possibility of formulating quantum mechanics as a Carnapian\u0000language with an inferentialist semantics.","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141586047","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Are General Relativity and Teleparallel Gravity Theoretically Equivalent?","authors":"James Owen Weatherall, Helen Meskhidze","doi":"arxiv-2406.15932","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2406.15932","url":null,"abstract":"Teleparallel gravity shares many qualitative features with general\u0000relativity, but differs from it in the following way: whereas in general\u0000relativity, gravitation is a manifestation of space-time curvature, in\u0000teleparallel gravity, spacetime is (always) flat. Gravitational effects in this\u0000theory arise due to spacetime torsion. It is often claimed that teleparallel\u0000gravity is an equivalent reformulation of general relativity. In this paper we\u0000question that view. We argue that the theories are not equivalent, by the\u0000criterion of categorical equivalence and any stronger criterion, and that\u0000teleparallel gravity posits strictly more structure than general relativity.","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"50 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141532331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Reasonable Ineffectiveness of Aesthetics in Particle Physics","authors":"Johannes Branahl","doi":"arxiv-2406.15837","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2406.15837","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, criticism of the methodology of particle physics beyond the\u0000Standard Model has increased, diagnosing too much reliance on aesthetic\u0000criteria for theory development and evaluation. Faced with several decades of\u0000experimental confirmation of all theories lacking, we subject four aesthetic\u0000criteria - simplicity, symmetry, elegance, and inevitability -, regularly\u0000mentioned in theory evaluation, to critical examination. We find that these\u0000criteria, all of which can be reduced to a desire for simplicity, have\u0000repeatedly misled modern particle physics. This is largely due to the lack of\u0000metatheoretical permanence of a uniform conception of simplicity. The\u0000reductionist claim of particle physics - the search for simple fundamental\u0000principles in a complex world - will be worked out as the reason why this\u0000discipline is particularly susceptible to the aesthetic appeal of simplicity.\u0000Thus, compared to disciplines dealing with complex phenomena, aesthetic\u0000criteria are much more frequently applied, exposing particle physics to the\u0000risk of missteps and dead ends.","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141505821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Quantum Systems Other Than the Universe","authors":"David Wallace","doi":"arxiv-2406.13058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2406.13058","url":null,"abstract":"How should we interpret physical theories, and especially quantum theory, if\u0000we drop the assumption that we should treat it as an exact description of the\u0000whole Universe? I expound and develop the claim that physics is about the study\u0000of autonomous, but not necessarily isolated, dynamical systems, and that when\u0000applied to quantum mechanics this entails that in general we should take\u0000quantum systems as having mixed states and non-unitary dynamics. I argue that\u0000nonetheless unitary dynamics continues to have a special place in physics, via\u0000the empirically-well-supported reductionist principles that non-unitarity is to\u0000be explained by restriction to a subsystem of a larger unitary system and that\u0000microscopic physics is governed by unitary and largely known dynamics. I\u0000contrast this position with the `Open Systems View' advocated recently by\u0000Michael Cuffaro and Stephan Hartmann.","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141505822","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A path to Balmer's formula: the Pythagorean search for simplicity and harmony","authors":"D V Redzic","doi":"arxiv-2406.06159","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2406.06159","url":null,"abstract":"A derivation of Balmer's formula is presented, guided by the principles of\u0000simplicity and harmony.","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"303 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141505823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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