Related papers: Is There An Ultimate Symmetry in Physics?
Spacetime and internal symmetries can be used to severely restrict the form of the equations for the fundamental laws of physics. The success of this approach in the context of general relativity and particle physics motivates the…
The concept of symmetries in physics is briefly reviewed. In the first part of these lecture notes, some of the basic mathematical tools needed for the understanding of symmetries in nature are presented, namely group theory, Lie groups and…
Over the past few decades the notion of symmetry has played a major role in physics and in the philosophy of physics. Philosophers have used symmetry to discuss the ontology and seeming objectivity of the laws of physics. We introduce…
This is the introductive paper to the volume "Symmetries in Physics: Philosophical Reflections", Cambridge University Press, 2003. We begin with a brief description of the historical roots and emergence of the concept of symmetry that is at…
Are symmetries discovered or rather invented by humans ? The stand you may take firmly here reveals a lot of your epistemological position. Conversely, the arguments you may forge for answering to this question, or to one of its numerous…
The role of mathematical models in physics has for longer been well established. The issue of their proper building and use appears to be less clear. Examples in this regard from relativity and quantum mechanics are mentioned. Comments…
In contemporary theoretical physics, the powerful notion of symmetry stands for a web of intricate meanings among which I identify four clusters associated with the notion of transformation, comprehension, invariance and projection. While…
The role of impossibilities in theories of Physics is mentioned and a recent result is recalled in which Quantum Mechanics is characterized by three information-theoretic impossibilities. The inconvenience of the asymmetries established by…
Paradoxes are a very frequent phenomenon in processes of thought which strive towards the intelectual and cognitive shifts. They occur in all areas of human spiritual activites. What we are interested here in, are the paradoxes in physics.…
Here I indulge in wide-ranging speculations on the shape of physics, and technology closely related to physics, over the next one hundred years. Themes include the many faces of unification, the re-imagining of quantum theory, and new forms…
Symmetries concerning the ordinary coordinate spacetime and internal spacetime are discussed. A possible unification model of electroweak, strong and gravitational interactions is briefly described.
A connection between nuclear symmetries other than those of an ellipsoidal nucleus and the properties of the implied rotational spectra are discussed. The discussion is focussed on a few examples of exotic shapes predicted recently by…
In these lectures, I discuss the role of symmetries in particle physics. I begin by discussing global symmetries and show that they can be realized differently in nature, depending on whether or not the vacuum state is left invariant by the…
Various aspects of Supersymmetry in 1-dimensional systems are analyzed.
Symmetries play a very important r\^ole in Particle Physics. In extended scalar sectors, the existence of symmetries may permit the models to comply with the experimental constraints in a natural way, and at the same time reduce the number…
Here I briefly discuss why supersymmetry is considered a leading candidate of physics beyond the standard model. I also highlight the salient features of different supersymmetry breaking models. A few other symmetries, broken or intact,…
The generalized definition of symmetry is formulated. Application of this definition for symmetric analysis of theoretical physics equations is considered. The version of electrodynamics is constructed permitting the faster-than-light…
We discuss the question of if and how undecidability might be translatable into physics, in particular with respect to prediction and description, as well as to complementarity games.
Examples are presented for appearance of geometric symmetry in the shape of various astronomical objects and phenomena. Usage of these symmetries in astrophysical and extragalactic research is also discussed.
A possible generalisation is given to the meaning of maximal symmetry in the presence of torsion