Related papers: Why the laws of physics are just so
Physicists and philosophers are increasingly prone to regarding our current physical theories as providing 'effective descriptions' of real-world systems. In the context of quantum gravity research, this fuels a common view that the…
This article provides a popular, largely non-technical explanation of how large objects can behave classically while smaller objects behave quantum mechanically, based on the effect of the presence of cosmic expansion velocities in extended…
General Relativity resembles a very elegant crystal glass: If we touch its principles, that is, its Lagrangian, there is a risk of breaking everything. Or, if we will, it is like a short blanket: Curing some problems creates new problems.…
In the presence of some forms of global anomalies, the equivalence theorem, which relates the interactions of longitudinal gauge bosons to those of the Goldstone bosons, is not always valid. This can occur when the Goldstone sector contains…
Symmetry tests provide an important probe for the structure of elementary particle interactions and for the validity of the standard model. However, it is pointed out that in the interpretation of such experiments one must keep in mind that…
We lay the groundwork for a formal framework that studies scientific theories and can serve as a unified foundation for the different theories within physics. We define a scientific theory as a set of verifiable statements, assertions that…
It is generally believed that physical laws, reflecting an inherent order in the universe, are ordained by nature. However, in modern physics the observer plays a central role raising questions about how an observer-centric physics can…
It is shown that certain structures in classical General Relativity can give rise to non-classical logic, normally associated with Quantum Mechanics. A 4-geon model of an elementary particle is proposed which is asymptotically flat,…
According to classical physics particles are basic building blocks of the world. Classical particles are distinguishable objects, individuated by physical characteristics. By contrast, in quantum mechanics the standard view is that…
General acceptance of a mathematical proposition $P$ as a theorem requires convincing evidence that a proof of $P$ exists. But what constitutes "convincing evidence?" I will argue that, given the types of evidence that are currently…
A long-standing tradition, largely present in both the physical and the philosophical literature, regards the advent of (special) relativity -- with its block-universe picture -- as the failure of any indeterministic program in physics. On…
The causal closure of physics is usually discussed in a context free way. Here I discuss it in the context of engineering systems and biology, where strong emergence takes place due to a combination of upwards emergence and downwards…
Historically it happen so that in branches of physics connected with field theory and of physics of material systems (continuous media) the concept of "conservation laws" has a different meaning. In field theory "conservation laws" are…
I argue that quantum mechanics is a realistic theory, but it violates either strong locality (no superluminal influences) or strict causality (diiferent effects cannot follow from the same cause).
The spectacular successes of quantum physics have made it a commonplace to assert that we live in a quantum world. This idea seems to imply a kind of "quantum fundamentalism" according to which everything in the universe (if not the…
Many of the numbers appearing in the laws of physics, such as the strength of electromagnetism or the masses of elementary particles, must lie in precise ranges for stars, planets, and chemistry to exist. Why the universe has these values…
The key observation about quantum reality is that it often appears as if, at some moment, the probability of a quantum event becomes a definite outcome for us. A careful analysis suggests, however, that what we perceive as a definite state…
Astrophysics and cosmology can be used to test the standard model of particle physics under conditions and over distance and time scales not accessible to laboratory experiments. Most of the astrophysical observations are in good agreement…
As illustrated by Schrodingers cat, there are often several macroscopically different versions of reality simultaneously existing in the wave function. On the face of it, this would seem to imply that an observer could perceive a…
Under the assumption that General Relativity (GR) correctly describes the phenomenology of our Universe, astronomical observations provide compelling evidence that (1) the dynamics of cosmic structure is dominated by dark matter (DM), an…