Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics最新文献

{"title":"Space-time constructivism vs. modal provincialism: Or, how special relativistic theories needn't show Minkowski chronogeometry","authors":"J. Brian Pitts","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2017.05.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2017.05.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Already in 1835 Lobachevski entertained the possibility of multiple (one might say “rival”) geometries of the same type playing a role. This idea of rival geometries has reappeared from time to time (including Poincaré and several 20th century authors) but had yet to become a key idea in space-time philosophy prior to Brown's <em>Physical Relativity</em>. Such ideas are emphasized towards the end of Brown's book, which I suggest as the interpretive key. A crucial difference between Brown's constructivist approach to space-time theory and orthodox “space-time realism” pertains to modal scope. Constructivism takes a broad modal scope in applying (at least) to all local classical field theories—modal cosmopolitanism, one might say, including theories with multiple geometries. By contrast the orthodox view is modally provincial in assuming that there exists a <em>unique</em> geometry, as the familiar theories (Newtonian gravity, Special Relativity, Nordström's gravity, and Einstein's General Relativity) have. These theories serve as the “canon” for the orthodox view. Their historical roles also suggest a Whiggish story of inevitable progress. Physics literature after <em>c.</em> 1920 is relevant to orthodoxy primarily as commentary on the canon, which closed in the 1910s. The orthodox view explains the spatio-temporal behavior of matter in terms of the manifestation of the real geometry of space-time, an explanation works fairly well within the canon. The orthodox view, Whiggish history, and the canon have a symbiotic relationship.</p><p>If one happens to philosophize about a theory outside the canon, space-time realism sheds little light on the spatio-temporal behavior of matter. Worse, it gives the <em>wrong</em> answer when applied to an example arguably <em>within</em> the canon, a sector of Special Relativity, namely, <em>massive</em> scalar gravity with universal coupling. Which is the true geometry—the flat metric from the Poincaré symmetry group, the conformally flat metric exhibited by material rods and clocks, or both—or is the question faulty? How does space-time realism explain the fact that all matter fields see the same curved geometry, when so many ways to mix and match exist? Constructivist attention to dynamical details is vindicated; geometrical shortcuts can disappoint. The more exhaustive exploration of relativistic field theories in particle physics, especially massive theories, is a largely untapped resource for space-time philosophy.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54442,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Pages 191-198"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.shpsb.2017.05.008","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72480681","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":"Physical relativity from a functionalist perspective","authors":"Eleanor Knox","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2017.09.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2017.09.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper looks at the relationship between <em>spacetime functionalism</em> and Harvey Brown's dynamical relativity. One popular way of reading and extending Brown's programme in the literature rests on viewing his position as a version of relationism. But a kind of spacetime functionalism extends the project in a different way, by focussing on the account Brown gives of the role of spacetime in relativistic theories. It is then possible to see this as giving a functional account of the concept of spacetime which may be applied to theories that go beyond relativity. This paper explores the way in which both the relationist project and the functionalist project relate to Brown's work, despite being incompatible. Ultimately, these should not be seen as two conflicting readings of Brown, but two different directions in which to take his project.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54442,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Pages 118-124"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.shpsb.2017.09.008","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84837140","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":"Karl Popper's forgotten role in the quantum debate at the edge between philosophy and physics in 1950s and 1960s","authors":"Flavio Del Santo","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.05.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.05.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>It is not generally well known that the philosopher Karl Popper has been one of the foremost critics of the orthodox interpretation of quantum physics for about six decades. This paper reconstructs in detail most of Popper's activities on foundations of </span>quantum mechanics (FQM) in the period of 1950s and 1960s, when his involvement in the community of quantum physicists became extensive and quite influential. Thanks to unpublished documents and correspondence, it is now possible to shed new light on Popper's central –though neglected– role in this “thought collective” of physicists concerned with FQM, and on the intellectual relationships that Popper established in this context with some of the protagonists of the debate over quantum physics (such as David Bohm, Alfed Landé and Henry Margenau, among many others). Foundations of quantum mechanics represented in those years also the initial ground for the embittering controversy between Popper and perhaps his most notable former student, Paul Feyerabend. I present here novel elements to further understand the origin of their troubled relationship.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54442,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Pages 78-88"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.05.002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82812758","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":"Analysis of double-slit interference experiment at the atomic level","authors":"Jonathan F. Schonfeld","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.04.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.04.009","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>I argue that the marquis characteristics of the quantum-mechanical double-slit experiment (point detection, random distribution, Born rule) can be explained using Schroedinger's equation alone, if one takes into account that, for any atom in a detector, there is a small but nonzero gap between its excitation energy and the excitation energies of all other relevant atoms in the detector (isolated-levels assumption). To illustrate the point I introduce a toy model of a detector. The form of the model follows common practice in quantum optics and cavity QED. Each detector atom can be resonantly excited by the incoming particle, and then emit a detection signature (e.g., bright flash of light) or dissipate its energy thermally. Different atoms have slightly different resonant energies per the isolated-levels assumption, and the projectile preferentially excites the atom with the closest energy match. The toy model permits one easily to estimate the probability that any atom is resonantly excited, and also that a detection signature is produced before being overtaken by thermal dissipation. The end-to-end detection probability is the product of these two probabilities, and is proportional to the absolute-square of the incoming wavefunction at the atom in question, i.e. the Born rule. I consider how closely a published neutron interference experiment conforms to the picture developed here; I show how this paper's analysis steers clear of creating a scenario with local hidden variables; I show how the analysis steers clear of the irreversibility implicit in the projection postulate; and I discuss possible experimental tests of this paper's ideas. Hopefully, this is a significant step toward realizing the program of solving the measurement problem within unitary quantum mechanics envisioned by Landsman, among others.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54442,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Pages 20-25"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.04.009","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82170406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Parity violation in weak interactions: How experiment can shape a theoretical framework","authors":"Adam Koberinski","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.05.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.05.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In this paper I will focus on the case of the discovery of parity nonconservation in weak interactions<span> from the period spanning 1947–1957, and the lessons this episode provides for successful theory construction in HEP<span>. I aim to (a) summarize the history into a coherent story for philosophers of science, and (b) use the history as a case study for the epistemological evolution of the understanding of weak interactions in HEP. Iconclude with some philosophical lessons regarding theory construction in physics.</span></span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":54442,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Pages 64-77"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.05.001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75954673","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":"Conservation, inertia, and spacetime geometry","authors":"James Owen Weatherall","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2017.09.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2017.09.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>As Harvey Brown emphasizes in his book <em>Physical Relativity</em><span><span>, inertial motion in general relativity is best understood as a theorem, and not a postulate. Here I discuss the status of the “conservation condition”, which states that the energy-momentum tensor associated with non-interacting matter is covariantly divergence-free, in connection with such theorems. I argue that the conservation condition is best understood as a consequence of the </span>differential equations governing the evolution of matter in general relativity and many other theories. I conclude by discussing what it means to posit a certain spacetime geometry and the relationship between that geometry and the dynamical properties of matter.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":54442,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Pages 144-159"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.shpsb.2017.09.007","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88608841","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":"Female genital image: is there a relationship with body image?","authors":"Tamara Barbara Silva Gomes, Cristina Aires Brasil, Ana Paula Pitia Barreto, Roseny Santos Ferreira, Bary Berghmans, Patricia Lordelo","doi":"10.4274/tjod.galenos.2019.49799","DOIUrl":"10.4274/tjod.galenos.2019.49799","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Dissatisfaction with body image may extend to the genital region, and the most dissatisfied with their bodies are women. To analyze the relation between body image and genital image in female, and to verify demographic and/or clinical factors related to body image and genital image.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>This is a cross-sectional study in 421 women. The Body Shape Questionnaire-34 (BSQ-34) was used to evaluate body image perception; scores ≤110 indicate no dissatisfaction. Also, the female genital self-image scale-7 (FGSIS-7) was used to evaluate genital self-image; scores range between 7 and 28, with higher values considered to indicate a more positive genital self-image. The relation between body image and genital image was determined using the Pearson Correlation test, as well as the relation of these with body mass index (BMI) and age. The relation between these data and genital image was determined by using the ANOVA test or the independent t-test (statistical difference was accepted as p<0.05). In order to verify predictors of dissatisfaction with body image, variables with p<0.10 were inserted into the logistic regression model and checked if they remained significant (p<0.05).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Three hundred eighty-nine women were analyzed. The mean age was 34.7±10.2 years. The mean BMI was 24.1±3.6 kg/m², 49% were single, and the mean BSQ-34 and FGSIS scores were 83.2±30.8 and 23.8±3.4, respectively. The correlation (r=-0.24) was found between body image and genital image (p<0.001). A total of 315 women indicated to be satisfied with their body and presented an FGSIS-7 score of 24±3.3. Participants who were dissatisfied with their body had an average FGSIS-7 score of 22.6±3.3.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Genital image, age, and BMI influence body image. Change in the perception of body image seems to have low correlation with genital self-image in women.</p>","PeriodicalId":54442,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics","volume":"44 1","pages":"84-90"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6637776/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77102132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The case for black hole thermodynamics part II: Statistical mechanics","authors":"David Wallace","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2018.10.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2018.10.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>I present in detail the case for regarding black hole thermodynamics as having a statistical-mechanical explanation in exact parallel with the statistical-mechanical explanation believed to underlie the thermodynamics of other systems. (Here I presume that black holes are indeed thermodynamic systems in the fullest sense; I review the evidence for </span><em>that</em><span><span><span> conclusion in the prequel to this paper.) I focus on three lines of argument: (i) zero-loop and one-loop calculations in quantum general relativity<span><span> understood as a quantum field theory, using the path-integral formalism; (ii) calculations in </span>string theory<span> of the leading-order terms, higher-derivative corrections, and quantum corrections, in the black hole entropy formula for extremal and near-extremal black holes; (iii) recovery of the qualitative and (in some cases) quantitative structure of black hole statistical mechanics via the AdS/CFT correspondence. In each case I briefly review the content of, and arguments for, the form of </span></span></span>quantum gravity being used (effective field theory; string theory; AdS/CFT) at a (relatively) introductory level: the paper is aimed at readers with some familiarity with thermodynamics, </span>quantum mechanics and general relativity but does not presume advanced knowledge of quantum gravity. My conclusion is that the evidence for black hole statistical mechanics is as solid as we could reasonably expect it to be in the absence of a directly-empirically-verified theory of quantum gravity.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":54442,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics","volume":"66 ","pages":"Pages 103-117"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.shpsb.2018.10.006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120197723","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":"Interpreting cosmic no hair theorems: Is fatalism about the far future of expanding cosmological models unavoidable?","authors":"Juliusz Doboszewski","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.02.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.02.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>It may be tempting to interpret cosmic no hair theorems (establishing that, under certain conditions, a cosmological model with accelerating expansion approaches de Sitter metric in the future) as implying a form of fatalism about a future state of the universe. In this note I explore (rather general) philosophical and (more concrete) physical reasons to resist such temptation. There are good reasons to think that (even locally) futures of expanding cosmological models may be unlike de Sitter.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54442,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics","volume":"66 ","pages":"Pages 170-179"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.02.003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"118016158","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":"Probabilism for stochastic theories","authors":"Jeremy Steeger","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2018.10.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsb.2018.10.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>I defend an analog of probabilism that characterizes rationally coherent estimates for chances. Specifically, I demonstrate the following accuracy-dominance result for stochastic theories in the <span><math><mrow><msup><mrow><mi>C</mi></mrow><mrow><mtext>*</mtext></mrow></msup></mrow></math></span>-algebraic framework: supposing an assignment of chance values is possible if and only if it is given by a pure state on a given algebra, your estimates for chances avoid accuracy-dominance if and only if they are given by a state on that algebra. When your estimates avoid accuracy-dominance (roughly: when you cannot guarantee that other estimates would be more accurate), I say that they are sufficiently coherent. In formal epistemology and quantum foundations, the notion of rational coherence that gets more attention requires that you never allow for a sure loss (or ‘Dutch book’) in a given sort of betting game; I call this notion full coherence. I characterize when these two notions of rational coherence align, and I show that there is a quantum state giving estimates that are sufficiently coherent, but not fully coherent.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54442,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics","volume":"66 ","pages":"Pages 34-44"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.shpsb.2018.10.004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81229068","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}