Related papers: On the Persistence of Particles
The classical model of spinning particle is analyzed in details in two versions - with single spinor and two spinors put on the trajectory. Equations of motion of the first version are easily solvable. The system with two spinors becomes…
The paper addresses the debate about the empirical status of particles versus wave functions in Bohmian quantum mechanics. It thereby clarifies questions and misconceptions about the role of the particles in the measurement process, the…
We consider the interplay between persistent motion, which is a generic property of active particles, and a recoil interaction which causes particles to jump apart on contact. The recoil interaction exemplifies an active contact interaction…
If textbook Lorentz invariance is actually a property of the equations describing a sector of matter above some critical distance scale, several sectors of matter with different critical speeds in vacuum can coexist and an absolute rest…
Many physicists, following Einstein, believe that the ultimate aim of theoretical physics is to find a unified theory of all interactions which would not depend on any free dimensionless constant, i.e., a dimensionless constant that is only…
I present a discussion of some issues in the ontology of spacetime. After a characterisation of the controversies among relationists, substantivalists, eternalists, and presentists, I offer a new argument for rejecting presentism, the…
Time can be defined as the duration between events. It is irreversible. When used as a variable in quantifying the changing properties of matter, this irreversibility of time is incompatible with Newton's deterministic mechanics and with…
A nomenclature for inertial frames and a notation for space and time coordinates is proposed to give an unambigous description of space-time experiments in special relativity. Of particular importance are the concepts of `base' and…
Even though the concepts of time and space are basic concepts of physics, they have not been vouchsafed a constructive definition. As to space, this is no wonder because a correct notion of space cannot be formed in the frame of the…
We consider the dynamics of finite systems of point masses which move along the real line. We suppose the particles interact pairwise and undergo perfectly inelastic collisions when they collide. In particular, once particles collide, they…
Two questions are investigated by looking successively at classical mechanics, special relativity, and relativistic gravity: first, how is space related with spacetime? The proposed answer is that each given reference fluid, that is a…
It is shown that the phenomenon of irreversibility in many-body and few-body systems can be explained and described within the framework of the concept of direct (not instantaneous) interaction of particles without using probabilistic…
One of the basic concepts of modern physics with a long prehistory is a fluid, which means a substance that flows under an applied shear stress. In this sense fluids form a wide subset of the phases of matter that includes liquids, dense…
This article deals with empty spacetime and the question of its physical reality. By "empty spacetime" we mean a collection of bare spacetime points, the remains of ridding spacetime of all matter and fields. We ask whether these geometric…
In a previous work we have shown that the null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment in vacuum is deeply connected with the notion of time. The same is true for the the postulate of constancy of the two-way speed of light in vacuum in…
As a continuation of Part I [8], a more precise formulation of local time and local system is given. The observation process is reflected in order to give a relation between the classical physics for centers of mass of local systems and the…
Dynamics of systems of structured particles consisting of potentially interacting material points is considered in the framework of classical mechanics. Equations of interaction and motion of structured particles have been derived. The…
This paper introduces a new object called the momentum tensor. Together with the velocity tensor it forms a basis for establishing the tensorial picture of classical and relativistic mechanics. Some properties of the momentum tensor are…
Quantum mechanics states that a particle emitted at point (x_1,t_1) and detected at point (x_2,t_2) does not travel along a definite path between the two points. This conclusion arises essentially from the analysis of the two-slit…
Antiparticles may be interpreted as ordinary particles travelling backwards in time and the two descriptions are considered equivalent, at least in special relativity and relativistic quantum mechanics. It is suggested that, vice versa, the…