Related papers: QCD and Natural Philosophy
This article was written in response to a request from an editor of American Vedantist. It is shown that the idea that consciousness is essential to understanding quantum mechanics arises from logical fallacies. This may be welcome news to…
Visible matter is characterised by a single mass scale; namely, the proton mass. The proton's existence and structure are supposed to be described by quantum chromodynamics (QCD); yet, absent Higgs boson couplings, chromodynamics is scale…
This is a translation into English of my Masters thesis (hovedoppgave) from 1991. The main topic of the thesis is the relation between fundamental physics and philosophy, and a discussion of several possible ontologies of quantum field…
Quantum mechanics and the theory of gravity are presently not compatible. A particular question is whether gravity causes decoherence - an unavoidable source of noise. Several models for gravitational decoherence have been proposed, not all…
Quantum theory (QT) has been confirmed by numerous experiments, yet we still cannot fully grasp the meaning of the theory. As a consequence, the quantum world appears to us paradoxical. Here we shed new light on QT by being based on two…
The review paper presents generalization of d'Alembert's variational principle: the dynamics of a quantum system for an external observer is defined by the exact equilibrium of all acting in the system forces, including the random quantum…
The apparent fine-tuning of several fundamental parameters that determine the properties of our Universe and make it hospitable to life is sometimes used as an argument for God from design. I review the concept of cosmic fine-tuning and…
Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) reduces the strong interactions, in all their variety, to a simple nonabelian gauge theory. It clearly and elegantly explains hadrons at short distances, which has led to its universal acceptance. Since its…
We propose the idea that not all energy is a source of gravity. We discuss the role of energy in the theory of gravitation and provide a formulation of gravity which takes into account the quantum nature of the source. We show that gravity…
Some of the basic concepts of topology are explored through known physics problems. This helps us in two ways, one, in motivating the definitions and the concepts, and two, in showing that topological analysis leads to a clearer…
The observational evidence for the acceleration of the universe demonstrates that canonical theories of gravitation and particle physics are incomplete, if not incorrect. A new generation of astronomical facilities will shortly be able to…
Earlier, we had presented \cite{heuristic} heuristic arguments to show that a {\em natural unification} of the ideas of the quantum theory and those underlying the general principle of relativity is achievable by way of the measure theory…
Despite its apparent complexity, our world seems to be governed by simple laws of physics. This volume provides a philosophical introduction to such laws. I explain how they are connected to some of the central issues in philosophy, such as…
Defined by Lord Kelvin as the science of measurement it is described a fundamental fact of physics. The so called `natural' units represent the unique system of units conveniently used in the realm of High Energy Physics. The system of…
From classical mechanics to quantum field theory, the physical facts at one point in space are held to be independent of those at other points in space. I propose that we can usefully challenge this orthodoxy in order to explain otherwise…
A geometric framework for describing quantum particles on a possibly curved background is proposed. Natural constructions on certain distributional bundles (`quantum bundles') over the spacetime manifold yield a quantum ``formalism'' along…
The principle of common cause is discussed as a possible fundamental principle of physics. Some revisions of Reichenbach's formulation of the principle are given, which lead to a version given by Bell. Various similar forms are compared and…
This thesis embarks on a comprehensive investigation of modified gravity theories and their implications on the properties of compact objects. Our primary objective is to shed light on the fundamental nature of gravity by exploring…
A new class of modified gravity theories, made possible by subtle features of the canonical formulation of general covariance, naturally allows MOND-like behavior (MOdified Newtonian Dynamics) in effective space-time solutions without…
This essay presents an accessible introduction to the basic motivations to seek a quantum theory of gravity. It focuses on one approach- loop quantum gravity - as an example of the rich philosophical issues that arise when we try to combine…