Related papers: The Grand View of Physics
We discuss the problems of consensus and unity in science. The natural sciences seem to contrast with many other areas of endeavor in that a high level of consensus seems to exist in them. However, a careful analysis of the structure of…
Defining interdisciplinary physics today requires first a reformulation of what is physics today, which in turn calls for clarifying what makes a physicist. This assessment results from my forty year journey arguing and fighting to build…
The possibility of fundamental theories with very many ground states, each with different physical parameters, changes the way that we approach the major questions of particle physics. Most importantly, it raises the possibility that these…
In 1963-71, a group of people, myself included, formulated and perfected a new approach to physics problems, which eventually came to be known under the names of scaling, universality, and renormalization. This work formed the basis of a…
While speed is an ubiquitous concept in physics, its inverse - known as slowness - sometimes proves more relevant. We discuss some case studies within classical physics where such a notion is fruitful, before exploring how it can be…
The ``unification'' of fundamental physical forces (interactions) imagines a ``single'' conceptual entity using which {\em all} the observable or physical phenomena, {\em ie}, changes to physical bodies, would be suitably describable. The…
The papers mentioned in the bibliography lead to this new hypothesis which constitutes a wide panorama of the physical reality. Its coherence and its simplicity are virtues that make interesant to gaze upon it.
A brief personal perspective is given of issues, questions, formulations, methods, some answers and selected extensions posed by the spin glass problem, showing how considerations of an apparently insignificant and practically unimportant…
We briefly comment (in italian) on present relations between the traditional philosophy and modern positive sciences, in particular exact sciences.
We discuss the fundamental principles underlying the current physical theories and the prospects of further improving their knowledge through experiments in space.
Quantum theory can be understood as pointing to an ontology of relations. I observe that this reading of quantum mechanics is supported by the ubiquity of relationality in contemporary fundamental physics, including in classical mechanics,…
Pythagoras' theorem lies at the heart of physics as well as mathematics, yet its historical origins are obscure. We highlight a purely pictorial, gestalt-like proof that may have originated during the Zhou Dynasty. Generalizations of the…
In the past century many fundamental results on unpredictability, undecidability and uncertainty have compelled scientists to grapple with the idea that some questions may never be resolved within our current theories. While this…
A phenomenological explanation is presented for the physics of aberration, which is in contrast with special relativity physics. The effect of relativity is identified with an effect due to the velocity of observation being affected by the…
1. Introduction - 2. Astrophysics and Cosmology - 3. Neutrino Oscillations - 4. Higgs and New Physics Searches - 5. Flavour Physics and CP Violation - 6. QCD - 7. Heavy Ion Collisions - 8. Outlook
I provide a very brief sketch of some of Dirac's interests and work in gravity, particularly his Hamiltonian formulation of Einstein's theory and its relation to his earlier research.
Recent decades have seen a rise in the use of physics methods to study different societal phenomena. This development has been due to physicists venturing outside of their traditional domains of interest, but also due to scientists from…
Glasses constitute a widespread form of solid matter, and glass production has been an important human technology for more than 3000 years. Despite that long history, new ways to understand the fundamental physics of glasses continue to…
The ``geometry'', in the sense of the classical differential geometry of smooth manifolds (CDG), is put under scrutiny from the point of view of Abstract Differential Geometry (ADG), along with resulting, thereby, potential physical…
One of the most important philosophers in history, the German Friedrich Nietzsche, is almost ignored by physicists. This author who declared the death of God in the 19th century was a science enthusiast, especially in the second period of…