arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics最新文献_第5页

The two-spin enigma: from the helium atom to quantum ontology 双旋之谜：从氦原子到量子本体论

arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics Pub Date : 2024-06-07 DOI: arxiv-2406.05169

Philippe Grangier, Alexia Auffeves, Nayla Farouki, Mathias Van Den Bossche, Olivier Ezratty

引用次数: 0

Myths of German Graphite in World War II, with Original Translations 二战中的德国石墨神话，附原文翻译

arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics Pub Date : 2024-05-31 DOI: arxiv-2405.20801

Patrick J. Park, Sebastian Herzele

{"title":"Myths of German Graphite in World War II, with Original Translations","authors":"Patrick J. Park, Sebastian Herzele","doi":"arxiv-2405.20801","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2405.20801","url":null,"abstract":"We re-examine the common narrative that a 1941 experimental error by\u0000physicists Walther Bothe and Peter Jensen led Germany to abandon graphite as a\u0000reactor moderator during World War II. We first detail the history of both\u0000German and American graphite experiments, noting that the Americans faced\u0000similar setbacks but succeeded only at the end of a costly 18-month graphite\u0000purification program. We then use Monte Carlo N-Particle simulations to\u0000reconstruct Bothe's 1941 experiment. We find the thermal absorption cross\u0000section of Bothe's Siemens electrographite to be 12.2 mb, in contrast to his\u0000reported 7.9 mb. This discrepancy arises because the neutrons in Bothe's\u0000experiment did not reach thermal equilibrium, leading to an underestimation of\u0000neutron absorption. Additionally, despite misconceptions that the Germans were\u0000unaware of boron impurities, we share evidence that Wilhelm Hanle accurately\u0000measured boron and cadmium impurities in the electrographite. To support our\u0000findings, we provide 9 excerpted and 3 complete English translations of\u0000classified wartime reports by Heisenberg, Joos, Bothe, Jensen, H\"ocker, Hanle,\u0000and Kremer. Our work aims to illuminate the rational constraints behind\u0000Germany's decision to forgo graphite moderation.","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141257212","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}

引用次数: 0

Jan Veth's paintings of Jacobus Kapteyn 扬-维特的雅各布斯-卡普汀画作

arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics Pub Date : 2024-05-27 DOI: arxiv-2405.16957

Pieter C. van der Kruit

{"title":"Jan Veth's paintings of Jacobus Kapteyn","authors":"Pieter C. van der Kruit","doi":"arxiv-2405.16957","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2405.16957","url":null,"abstract":"Jacobus C. Kapteyn is regarded as one of the coryfees of the University of\u0000Groningen. Part of his legacy is two paintings of him by Dutch painter Jan\u0000Pieter Veth. One, showing him at his desk, decorates the Kapteyn Room in the\u0000Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, and the other one, displaying him in academic\u0000attire, is in the University's gallery of professors in the central Academy\u0000Building. The first was offered to the Kapteyns on the occasion of his 40-th\u0000anniversary as professor in 1918 and the second to the University after his\u0000retirement in 1921. It has been suggested that there must have been a third portrait that now is\u0000lost. Former director Adriaan Blaauw has proposed that the one in the Academy\u0000Building actually was first offered in 1918, but at Mrs. Kapteyn's request\u0000replaced by the one now in the Kapteyn Room. The first version was then later\u0000adapted to the requirements of the gallery of professors by Veth himself by\u0000overpainting it with academic attire. A preliminary trial version by Veth, in\u0000the possession of Kapteyn's greatgrandson, shows what it would have looked like\u0000before the adaption. The following reports on new evidence: the biography of Jan Veth that\u0000historian Johan Huizinga, friend of Veth, wrote, and letters Veth wrote to his\u0000wife while he was working on these paintings. This provides strong support of\u0000Blaauw's sequence of events with a few modifications. No third painting has\u0000ever been produced.","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141171650","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}

引用次数: 0

Positivism in Newtonian Mechanics: The Ousia or a Historical Liability? 牛顿力学中的实证主义：欧西亚还是历史的责任？

arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics Pub Date : 2024-05-22 DOI: arxiv-2405.13421

Seyed Mohammad Rezaei Niya

{"title":"Positivism in Newtonian Mechanics: The Ousia or a Historical Liability?","authors":"Seyed Mohammad Rezaei Niya","doi":"arxiv-2405.13421","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2405.13421","url":null,"abstract":"The positivistic assumptions of determinism and objectivism in the realm of\u0000Newtonian mechanics are questioned in this paper. While objectivism is only\u0000challenged through proposing the mildest form of subjectivism, determinism is\u0000structurally disputed by proposing that the physical reality, at least in the\u0000examples discussed, is, in essence, probabilistic and unpredictable. It is\u0000discussed that the physical reality and experimenter's identification of it\u0000could basically have inconsistent characteristics, and the study of the\u0000physical reality can therefore be conducted in ontic and epistemic levels,\u0000leading to two distinct identifications. Four scientific topics, showing two\u0000different types of indeterminacy, are introduced and briefly reviewed: chaotic\u0000systems, turbulence, fluid transport in porous media, and hydromechanics of\u0000fractures. It is proposed that determinism is only meaningful in epistemic\u0000level, the first two examples are ontically indeterministic, the last two\u0000examples are epistemically indeterministic, and more examples of\u0000indeterministic phenomena could, most likely, be found in the nature.\u0000Indeterminacy of the physical reality, it is discussed, has always been\u0000considered in engineering design processes and such effects have normally been\u0000covered through safety factors and feedback loops. By reviewing Hadamard's\u0000well-posedness criteria, Poincae's complete deterministic approach, and\u0000Leibniz's principles of sufficient reason and identity of indiscernibles, it is\u0000claimed that positivism stands on Leibniz's metaphysical assumptions, which are\u0000not necessarily in full agreement with the physical reality. A few suggestions\u0000for a path beyond positivism in Newtonian mechanics are finally provided.","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141150774","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}

引用次数: 0

Foundational Issues in Group Field Theory 群体场论的基础问题

arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics Pub Date : 2024-05-22 DOI: arxiv-2406.08501

Álvaro Mozota Frauca

引用次数: 0

Diffeomorphism invariance and general covariance: a pedagogical introduction 衍射不变量和一般协方差：教学导论

arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics Pub Date : 2024-05-15 DOI: arxiv-2405.09703

Mateo Casariego

引用次数: 0

Revolutionizing Quantum Mechanics: The Birth and Evolution of the Many-Worlds Interpretation 量子力学的革命：多世界解释的诞生与演变

arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics Pub Date : 2024-05-11 DOI: arxiv-2405.06924

Arnub Ghosh

{"title":"Revolutionizing Quantum Mechanics: The Birth and Evolution of the Many-Worlds Interpretation","authors":"Arnub Ghosh","doi":"arxiv-2405.06924","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2405.06924","url":null,"abstract":"The Many-worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics has captivated\u0000physicists and philosophers alike since its inception in the mid-20th century.\u0000This paper explores the historical roots, evolution, and implications of the\u0000MWI within the context of quantum theory. Beginning with an overview of early\u0000developments in quantum mechanics and the emergence of foundational\u0000interpretations, we delve into the origins of the MWI through the\u0000groundbreaking work of physicist Hugh Everett III. Everett's doctoral thesis\u0000proposed a radical solution to the measurement problem, positing the existence\u0000of multiple branching universes to account for quantum phenomenon. We trace the\u0000evolution of the MWI, examining its refinement and elaboration by subsequent\u0000physicists such as John Wheeler. Furthermore, we discuss the MWI's impact on\u0000contemporary physics, including its connections to quantum information theory\u0000and ongoing experimental tests. By providing a comprehensive analysis of the\u0000MWI's historical development and current relevance, this paper offers insights\u0000into one of the most provocative interpretations of quantum mechanics and its\u0000implications for our understanding of the universe.","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"65 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140939883","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}

引用次数: 0

The Discovery of Neptune Revisited 重温海王星的发现

arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics Pub Date : 2024-05-10 DOI: arxiv-2405.06310

Gabriel Rodríguez-Moris, José A. Docobo

引用次数: 0

Ising's roots and the transfer-matrix eigenvalues 伊辛根和转移矩阵特征值

arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics Pub Date : 2024-05-09 DOI: arxiv-2405.05703

Reinhard Folk, Yurij Holovatch

{"title":"Ising's roots and the transfer-matrix eigenvalues","authors":"Reinhard Folk, Yurij Holovatch","doi":"arxiv-2405.05703","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2405.05703","url":null,"abstract":"Today, the Ising model is an archetype describing collective ordering\u0000processes. And, as such, it is widely known in physics and far beyond. Less\u0000known is the fact that the thesis defended by Ernst Ising 100 years ago (in\u00001924) contained not only the solution of what we call now the `classical 1D\u0000Ising model' but also other problems. Some of these problems, as well as the\u0000method of their solution, are the subject of this note. In particular, we\u0000discuss the combinatorial method Ernst Ising used to calculate the partition\u0000function for a chain of elementary magnets. In the thermodynamic limit, this\u0000method leads to the result that the partition function is given by the roots of\u0000a certain polynomial. We explicitly show that `Ising's roots' that arise within\u0000the combinatorial treatment are also recovered by the eigenvalues of the\u0000transfer matrix, a concept that was introduced much later. Moreover, we discuss\u0000the generalization of the two-state model to a three-state one presented in\u0000Ising's thesis, but not included in his famous paper of 1925 ( i E. Ising, Z.\u0000Physik {bf 31} (1925) 253}). The latter model can be considered as a\u0000forerunner of the now abundant models with many-component order parameters.","PeriodicalId":501042,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics","volume":"307 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140939582","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}

引用次数: 0

Free Will and Falling Cats 自由意志与落水猫

arXiv - PHYS - History and Philosophy of Physics Pub Date : 2024-05-07 DOI: arxiv-2405.04565

Frank Wilczek

引用次数: 0