Related papers: Mach's Principle
This paper discusses the formulations of the past in quantum mechanics.
A brief history, the current state, and future directions of spin mechanics are presented.
This is an introduction to some recent developments in string theory and M theory. We try to concentrate on the main physical aspects, and often leave more technical details to the original literature.
Progress in charm physics has been prodigious over the last twenty years; it comes both from fixed target and collider experiments, and can guide us toward future investigations. To fully exploit the power of flavor physics, complications…
We discuss historical attempts to formulate a physical hypothesis from which Turing's thesis may be derived, and also discuss some related attempts to establish the computability of mathematical models in physics. We show that these…
Mach's principle asserts that the inertial mass of a body is related to the distribution of other distant bodies. This means that in the absence of other bodies, a single body has no mass. In this case, talking about motion is not possible,…
I present a concise review of where we stand in particle physics today. First, I will discuss the status of the Standard Model, its open problems and the expected answers from the LHC. Then I will briefly review the avenues for New Physics…
This paper will attempt to show that the Doppler principle was of major relevance to Einstein for the genesis of the special theory of relativity.
The beliefs of physicists can bias their results towards their expectations in a number of ways. We survey a variety of historical cases of expectation bias in observations, experiments, and calculations.
Since ancient times, mathematics has proven unreasonably effective in its description of physical phenomena. As humankind enters a period of advancement where the completion of the much coveted theory of quantum gravity is at hand, there is…
We adopt a 'thermodynamical' formulation of Mach's principle that the rest mass of a particle in the Universe is a measure of its long-range collective interactions with all other particles inside the horizon. We consider all particles in…
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 a first historical part I shall give a detailed description of how Pauli discovered --before the advent of the new quantum mechanics -- his exclusion principle. The second part is devoted to the insight and results that have been…
Ernst Mach (1838-1916) suggested that the origin of gravitational interaction could depend on the presence of all masses in the universe. A corresponding hypothesis of Sciama (1953) on the gravitational constant, c^2/G = \sum m_i/r_i, is…
I discuss the main features of the concept of law in physics. Fundamental laws from Newtonian mechanics to general relativity are reviewed. I end with an outlook on the new form of laws in the emerging theory of quantum gravity.
The paper outlines the historical development of spin in physics from about 1920 to the present day. It aims to provide the student with an accurate chronology of important developments, both scientific and technical.
After a very brief review of twentieth century elementary particle physics, prospects for the next century are discussed. First and most important are technological limits of opportunities; next, the future experimental program, and finally…
The concept of infinity took centuries to achieve recognized status in the field of mathematics, despite the fact that it was implicitly present in nearly all mathematical endeavors. Here I explore the idea that a similar development might…
My personal views of the Chiral Magnetic Effect are presented, which starts with a story about how we came up with the electric-current formula and continues to unsettled subtleties in the formula. There are desirable features in the…
We discuss the nature and a general formulation of the relativity principle and we show that it can be justified starting from a strictly operational point of view. We give some remark on the connection with the spacetime symmetry groups.…