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This paper is an exploration of the nuanced realm of reference frames within the framework of General Relativity. Our analysis exposes a violation of Earman's SP1 principle in scenarios involving fields that are dynamically uncoupled, a…
We describe a completely general and fully non-perturbative framework for constructing dynamical reference frames in generally covariant theories, and for understanding the gauge-invariant observables that they yield. Our approach makes use…
In this article, I argue that modern spacetime physics causes problems for a number of traditional accounts of modality, but also offers important new ideas about the connection between modal and non-modal features of reality. I suggest…
This work introduces a novel three-fold classification of reference frames in General Relativity, distinguishing between Idealised Reference Frames (IRFs), Dynamical Reference Frames (DRFs), and Real Reference Frames (RRFs). By defining a…
In general relativity, the causal structure between events is dynamical, but it is definite and observer-independent; events are point-like and the membership of an event A in the future or past light-cone of an event B is an…
The present essay provides a new metaphysical interpretation of Relational Quantum Mechanics (RQM) in terms of mereological bundle theory. The essential idea is to claim that a physical system in RQM can be defined as a mereological fusion…
Viewing frames of reference as physical systems, subject to the same laws as the systems they describe, is central to the relational approach in physics. Under the assumption that quantum mechanics universally governs all physical entities,…
In this note, we provide some categorical perspectives on the relativization construction arising from quantum measurement theory in the presence of symmetries and occupying a central place in the operational approach to quantum reference…
In this paper, we analyze the viewpoint stability of foundational models - specifically, their sensitivity to changes in viewpoint- and define instability as significant feature variations resulting from minor changes in viewing angle,…
In standard quantum mechanics, reference frames are treated as abstract entities. We can think of them as idealized, infinite-mass subsystems which decouple from the rest of the system. In nature, however, all reference frames are realized…
This article contributes to the debate of the meaning of relationalism and background independence, which has remained of interest in theoretical physics from Newton versus Leibniz through to foundational issues for today's leading…
Eternalism is the view that all times are equally real. The relativity of simultaneity in special relativity backs this up. There is no cosmically extended, self-existing 'now'. This leads to a tricky problem. What makes statements about…
Treating reference frames fundamentally as quantum systems is inevitable in quantum gravity and also in quantum foundations once considering laboratories as physical systems. Both fields thereby face the question of how to describe physics…
It is mandatory to know how to operationally define and translate a reference frame into mathematics, in order that a physical interpretation of theory calculations in terms of observational data is possible. The situation is particularly…
On a mathematically foundational level, our most successful physical theories (gauge field theories and general-relativistic theories) are formulated in a framework based on the differential geometry of connections on principal bundles.…
The principles of the physical description of non-inertial frames of reference are analyzed. The systems of physical reality description (PhRD) are introduced on base of generalization of the relativistic principle in special and general…
One of the foundational challenges in both Quantum Field Theory and the philosophy of physics lies in the traditional binary classification of entities as either real or unreal. The classical view posits that material entities are real,…
Recent critiques of the semantic conception of scientific theories suggest that a theory is not best formulated as a collection of models satisfying some set of kinematical or dynamical conditions. Thus it has been argued that additional…
In theories with a diffeomorphism symmetry, such as general relativity and canonical quantum gravity, it is often proposed that the empirical content is encoded in relational observables. But how do relational observables actually make…
The paper contains a review on the general connection theory on differentiable fibre bundles. Particular attention is paid to (linear) connections on vector bundles. The (local) representations of connections in frames adapted to holonomic…