Related papers: Around the gap between sociophysics and sociology
A personal perspective on the future challenges of research in particle physics is presented with emphasis on the role of DIS physics in this endeavour.
This article, written in honor of Fritz Rohrlich, briefly surveys the role of topology in physics.
It is a quite common view among people, that are not aware of the developments in modern physics, that it is part of human nature to substitute religious faith in places where there is no knowledge. Therefore, an increase in knowledge would…
This essay discusses the idea that a Theory of Everything would not be complete without a theory of consciousness as one of its parts, and the suggestion that new physics may be needed to describe consciousness. I argue that the motivations…
Many statistical issues arise in the analysis of Particle Physics experiments. We give a brief introduction to Particle Physics, before describing the techniques used by Particle Physicists for dealing with statistical problems, and also…
What constitutes a "physics of firefly swarms"? In response to a Comment in Nature Reviews Physics, I offer a brief scientific perspective.
Increasing numbers of physicists engage in research activities that address biological questions from physics perspectives or strive to develop physics insights from active biological processes. The on-going development and success of such…
A particular science is not only defined by its object of study, but also by the point of view and method under which it considers that same object. Taking space and time as an illustrative example, our main aim here is to bring out an…
Complex macroscopic behaviour can arise in many-body systems with only very simple elements as a consequence of the combination of competition and inhomogeneity. This paper attempts to illustrate how statistical physics has driven this…
This paper briefly discusses some questions with analytical and topological aspects, with hopefully some useful references on both sides.
Certain results of observational cosmology cast critical doubt on the foundations of standard cosmology but leave most cosmologists untroubled. Alternative cosmological models that differ from the Big Bang have been published and defended…
We consider the implications of some simple assumptions about the nature of the quantum theory of gravity which are plausible for a class of possible theories I have been attempting to construct. The simple assumptions turn out to have…
This article gives an overview, aimed at theoretical particle physicists, of some recent developments in cosmology.
Difficulties and discomfort with the interpretation of quantum mechanics are due to differences in language between it and classical physics. Analogies to The Special Theory of Relativity, which also required changes in the basic worldview…
As Physics did in previous centuries, there is currently a common dream of extracting generic laws of nature in economics, sociology, neuroscience, by focalising the description of phenomena to a minimal set of variables and parameters,…
Cosmology differs in some respects significantly from other sciences, primarily because of its intimate association with issues of a conceptual and philosophical nature. Because cosmology in the broader sense relates to the world views held…
This text consists on a series of introductory lectures on cosmology for mathematicians and physicists who are not specialized on the subject.
Two popular attempts to understand the quantum physics of gravitation are critically assessed. The talk on which this paper is based was intended for a general particle-physics audience.
I discuss the main features of the concept of law in physics. Fundamental laws from Newtonian mechanics to general relativity are reviewed. I end with an outlook on the new form of laws in the emerging theory of quantum gravity.
The concept of symmetries in physics is briefly reviewed. In the first part of these lecture notes, some of the basic mathematical tools needed for the understanding of symmetries in nature are presented, namely group theory, Lie groups and…