Related papers: Truth, or Mere Beauty?
This is the first of a series of papers that we intend to publish about the epistemology of fundamental physics in its current state. One of the main objectives of these papers is to improve our understanding of fundamental physics (and…
Effetive field theory is believed to provide a useful framework for describing low-energy nuclear phenomena in a model-independent fashion. I give here a brief account of the basic features of this approach, some of its latest developments,…
Among the many worthwhile quantum experiments taking advantage of long baselines in space, this white paper points to the far-reaching significance of gravitational decoherence experiments. These experiments can provide clues as to whether…
Interpretation is not the only way to explain a theory's success, form and features, and nor is it the only way to solve problems we see with a theory. This can also be done by giving a reductive explanation of the theory, by reference to a…
Nonlinear field theories can be used to study both standard physics questions, or to study questions such as the emergence of order and complexity. These theories are generally derived from the symmetries of a given problem and the…
Since ancient times, mathematics has proven unreasonably effective in its description of physical phenomena. As humankind enters a period of advancement where the completion of the much coveted theory of quantum gravity is at hand, there is…
The new interpretation of Quantum Mechanics is based on a complex probability theory. An interpretation postulate specifies events which can be observed and it follows that the complex probability of such event is, in fact, a real positive…
We propose an interpretation of physics named potentiality realism. This view, which can be applied to classical as well as to quantum physics, regards potentialities (i.e. intrinsic, objective propensities for individual events to obtain)…
The quantum nature of a black hole is revealed using the simplest terms that one learns in undergraduate and beginning graduate courses. The exposition demonstrates -- vividly -- the importance and power of the quantum oscillator in…
Nuclear Physics has had its ups and downs. However in recent years, bucked up by some new and often puzzling data, it has become a potentially very rich field. We review some of these exciting developments in a few important sectors of…
Discussion of the necessity to use the constructive mathematics as the formalism of quantum theory for systems with many particles.
The stipulation that no measurable quantity could have an infinite value is indispensable in physics. At the same time, in mathematics, the possibility of considering an infinite procedure as a whole is usually taken for granted. However,…
The quantum-mechanical description of the world, including human observers, makes substantial use of entanglement. In order to understand this, we need to adopt concepts of truth, probability and time which are unfamiliar in modern…
A system's apparent simplicity depends on whether it is represented classically or quantally. This is not so surprising, as classical and quantum physics are descriptive frameworks built on different assumptions that capture, emphasize, and…
I use Supergravity as a test case to study the role and uses of elegance/simplicity in formulating and evaluating physical models, whose sole criterion is of course truth: an observationally verified description of Nature within a certain…
Finite Unified Theories (FUTs) are N=1 supersymmetric Grand Unified Theories that can be made all-loop finite. The requirement of all-loop finiteness leads to a severe reduction of the free parameters of the theory and, in turn, to a large…
In recent publications in physics and mathematics, concerns have been raised about the use of real numbers to describe quantities in physics, and in particular about the usual assumption that physical quantities are infinitely precise. In…
The possibility to have a deviation from relativistic quantum field theory requiring to go beyond effective field theories is discussed. A few recent attempts to go in this direction both at the theoretical and phenomenological levels are…
The logic--linguistic structure of quantum physics is analysed. The role of formal systems and interpretations in the representation of nature is investigated. The problems of decidability, completeness, and consistency can affect quantum…
Since the beginning of quantum mechanics, many puzzling phenomena which distinguish the quantum from the classical world, have appeared such as complementarity, entanglement or contextuality. All of these phenomena are based on the…