Related papers: Autobiographical Notes of a Physicist
Recent developments in the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics have brought the theory closer to that of classical probability and statistics. On the other hand, the unique character of quantum physics sets many of the questions…
In this short review I present my personal reflections on QBism. I have no intrinsic sympathy neither to QBism nor to subjective interpretation of probability in general. However, I have been following development of QBism from its very…
These notes are an outgrowth of an advanced undergraduate course taught at the University of Maryland, College Park. They are intended as an introduction to various aspects of particle and nuclear physics with an emphasis on the role of…
On the occasion of the celebration of the first half-century of Yang--Mills theories, I am contributing a personal recollection of how the subject, in its early times, confronted physical reality, that is, its "phenomenology". There is…
Quantum field theory has formed the conceptual framework of most of physics for more than sixty years. It incorporates a complete revision of our conception of the nature of matter and existence itself. Yet it is rarely taught, or even…
We address the question "How do students make sense of Physics from the point of view of constituting physics knowledge?". A phenomenographic study is described as a result of which we present six qualitatively different ways in which…
This pseudo-paper consists of excerpts drawn from two of my quantum-email samizdats. Section 1 draws a picture of a physical world whose essence is ``Darwinism all the way down.'' Section 2 outlines how quantum theory should be viewed in…
After stating the author's ontic position, a collage of relevant thoughts of some distinguished foundationally-minded physicists are quoted and polemically commented upon. Thus, a kind of historical background of the recent ontic…
In this paper, I aim to clarify the unconscious ideologies and attitudes held by physicists through Prigogine's work. Prigogine was an outstanding chemist and physicist who made significant contributions to the development of…
This contribution aims to give an overview of the historical context of neutrino physics. I will present the strong social trends that shaped physics and the way physicists worked, along the 20th century. First, we will see the background…
Even though quantum mechanics has existed for almost 100 years, questions concerning the foundation and interpretation of the theory still remain. These issues have gathered more attention in recent years, but does this mean that physicists…
We begin herewith the editing of physics notes taken in the course of Journal Club seminars at INFN-LNF in 1996. The activity consists of informal talks about work in progress and/or review of (more or less) recent physics results of…
Highly personalysed and subjective review of studies of the equilibrium, pulsations and stability of stars with the first-order phase transition.
We discuss some of the key science questions that are bringing particle physicists and astrophysicists together, and comment on some of the cultural and funding issues that have arisen as these two communities become increasingly…
Is the universe digital or analog? In this essay I argue that both classical and quantum physics include limits that prevent us from definitively answering that question. That quantum physics does so is no surprise. That classical physics…
This essay provides a short introduction to the ideas and potential implications of quantum physics for scholars in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Quantum-inspired ideas pepper current discourse in all of these fields, in ways…
These are notes from a 15 week course aimed at graduate mathematicians. They provide an essentially self-contained introduction to some of the ideas and terminology of QFT.
This is a contribution to a book on quantum gravity and philosophy. I discuss nature and origin of the problem of quantum gravity. I examine the knowledge that may guide us in addressing this problem, and the reliability of such knowledge.…
This is an open letter on the nature of the quantum theory.
These notes provide an introduction to standard topics on quantum computation and communication for those who already have a basic knowledge of quantum mechanics. The main target audience are professional physicists as well as advanced…