Related papers: Indeterminism and Randomness Through Physics
I argue that scientific determinism is not supported by facts, but results from the elegance of the mathematical language physicists use, in particular from the so-called real numbers and their infinite series of digits. Classical physics…
Physical laws are a set of rules in the relationship between observations made by the experimenter. All these observations are made through a mechanism that links the external world to the experimenter's awareness, a mechanism which is not…
Reasoning about unpredicted change consists in explaining observations by events; we propose here an approach for explaining time-stamped observations by surprises, which are simple events consisting in the change of the truth value of a…
This PhD thesis deals with a number of different problems in mathematical physics with the common thread that they have probabilistic aspects. The problems all stem from mathematical studies of lattice systems in statistical and quantum…
Rotational invariance of physical laws is a generally accepted principle. We show that it leads to an additional external constraint on local realistic models of physical phenomena involving measurements of multiparticle spin 1/2…
In any physical theory that admits true indeterminism, the thermodynamic arrow of time can arise regardless of the system's initial conditions. Hence on such theories time's arrow emerges out of the basic physical interactions. The example…
There are several forms of irreducibility in computing systems, ranging from undecidability to intractability to nonlinearity. This paper is an exploration of the conceptual issues that have arisen in the course of investigating speed-up…
We report a rigorous theory to show the origin of the unexpected periodic behavior seen in the consecutive differences between prime numbers. We also check numerically our findings to ensure that they hold for finite sequences of primes,…
Systematic uncertainties in high energy physics and astrophysics are often significant contributions to the overall uncertainty in a measurement, in many cases being comparable to the statistical uncertainties. However, consistent…
Free will discourse is primarily centred around the thesis of determinism. Much of the literature takes determinism as its starting premise, assuming it true for the sake of discussion, and then proceeds to present arguments for why, if…
An overview of the experimental and observational status in gravitational physics is given, both for the known tests of general relativity and Newtonian gravity, but also for the increasing number of results where these theories run into…
One main goal of argumentation theory is to evaluate arguments and to determine whether they should be accepted or rejected. When there is no clear answer, a third option, being undecided, has to be taken into account. Indecision is often…
The contradiction of micro-reversibility and macro-irreversibility is an old problem in statistical mechanics. This article argues that irreversibility is present even at the micro level because of the mechanical-electromagnetic…
Quantum mechanics marks a radical departure from the classical understanding of Nature, fostering an inherent randomness which forbids a deterministic description; yet the most fundamental departure arises from something different. As shown…
There exist dozens of interpretations of quantum theory, but they do not seem to contribute much to understanding the theory. This paper attempts to clarify some issues that are discussed in those interpretations. The main keywords are:…
Some notes and questions about the concept of time are exposed. Particular reference is given to the problem in quantum mechanics, in connection with the indeterminacy principle.
It is a remarkable fact that all processes occurring in the observable Universe are irreversible, whereas the equations in which the laws of physics are formulated are invariant under time reversal. The emergency of irreversibility from the…
The discoveries and open questions in neutrino physics, as reported at Neutrino 2002 and more recently, are reviewed from a theoretical perspective.
The concept of decoherence is defined, and discussed in a historical context. This is illustrated by some of its essential consequences which may be relevant for the interpretation of quantum theory. Various aspects of the formalism are…
We consider the problem of rational uncertainty about unproven mathematical statements, remarked on by G\"odel and others. Using Bayesian-inspired arguments we build a normative model of fair bets under deductive uncertainty which draws…