Related papers: The Physics and Metaphysics of Pure Shape Dynamics
The general framework of entropic dynamics is used to formulate a relational quantum dynamics. The main new idea is to use tools of information geometry to develop an entropic measure of the mismatch between successive configurations of a…
The objective is a foundation of physics from the operationalization of its basic observables. We begin with classical and relativistic kinematics. Seizing on a programmatic proposal by Heinrich Hertz we arrive via quantification of…
The dynamics of $N\geq 3$ interacting particles is investigated in the non-relativistic context of the Barbour-Bertotti theories. The reduction process on this constrained system yields a Lagrangian in the form of a Riemannian line element.…
The traditional metaphysical debate between static and dynamic views in the philosophy of time is examined in light of considerations concerning the nature of time in physical theory. Adapting the formalism of Rovelli (1995, 2004), I set…
General Relativity can be reformulated as a geometrodynamical theory, called Shape Dynamics, that is not based on spacetime (in particular refoliation) symmetry but on spatial diffeomorphism and local spatial conformal symmetry. This leads…
The paper sets out a primitive ontology of the natural world in terms of primitive stuff, that is, stuff that has as such no physical properties at all, but that is not a bare substratum either, being individuated by metrical relations. We…
General relativity and quantum mechanics have both revealed the relativity of certain notions that were previously thought to be absolute. I clarify the precise sense in which these theories are relational, and I argue that the various…
Classical mechanics for individual physical systems and quantum mechanics of non-relativistic particles are shown to be exceptional cases of a generalized dynamics described in terms of maps between two manifolds, the source being…
Barbour's response to our recent paper on "Mach's principle and higher-dimensional dynamics" describes an approach to Mach's principle in which the universe as a whole is involved in the definition of inertial frames of reference. Moreover,…
We provide the construction of a de Broglie-Bohm model of the $N$-body system within the framework of Pure Shape Dynamics. The equation of state of the curve in shape space is worked out, with the instantaneous shape being guided by a wave…
This report provides a brief review of recently developed extended framework for fundamental physics, designated as Quantum Field Mechanics and including causally complete and intrinsically unified theory of explicitly emerging elementary…
Classical gravity can be described as a relational dynamical system without ever appealing to spacetime or its geometry. This description is the so-called shape dynamics description of gravity. The existence of relational first principles…
The aim of this work is to provide a possible philosophical motivation to the variational principles of physics in general and a possible way to unify the axiomatizations of mechanics theories. The leitmotif of this work is a dialectical…
This paper elaborates on relationalism about space and time as motivated by a minimalist ontology of the physical world: there are only matter points that are individuated by the distance relations among them, with these relations changing.…
We present a geometric approach to the three-body problem in the non-relativistic context of the Barbour-Bertotti theories. The Riemannian metric characterizing the dynamics is analyzed in detail in terms of the relative separations.…
We survey some of the connections linking complex dynamics to other fields of mathematics and science. We hope to show that complex dynamics is not just interesting on its own but also has value as an applicable theory.
A brief review of relativistic effects in few-body systems, of theoretical approaches, recent developments and applications is given. Manifestations of relativistic effects in the binding energies, in the electromagnetic form factors and in…
In the past two decades, artificial structures known as metamaterials have been found to exhibit extraordinary material properties that enable the unprecedented manipulation of electromagnetic waves, elastic waves, molecules, and particles.…
Quantum mechanics, one of the most successful theories in the history of science, was created to account for physical systems not describable by classical physics. Though it is consistent with all experiments conducted thus far, many of its…
Relational particle mechanics are models in which there is, overall, no time, position, orientation (nor, sometimes, scale). They are useful for whole-universe modelling - the setting for quantum cosmology. This note concerns 3 particles in…