Related papers: The Photon-Box Bohr-Einstein Debate Demithologized
This article explores the following methodological principle for theory construction in physics: if an ontological theory predicts two scenarios that are ontologically distinct but empirically indiscernible, then this theory should be…
A recent essay [1] reminds us of how richly Boltzmann deserves to be admiringly commemorated for the originality of his ideas on the occasion of his 150th birthday. Without any doubt, the scientific community owes Boltzmann a great debt of…
Bose-Einstein condensation has in the last two decades been observed in cold atomic gases and in solid-state physics quasiparticles, exciton-polaritons and magnons, respectively. The perhaps most widely known example of a bosonic gas,…
This paper provides, firstly, a succinct mathematical derivation of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of photons elaborating on previous results [M\"uller, E.E., Annals of Phys. 184, 219-230 (1988); M\"uller, E.E. Physica 139A, 165-174…
Valentini [arXiv:0811.0810] has recently defended the de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave version of quantum theory from the claim that it is essentially Everett theory encumbered with the redundant postulation of point particles. In this note,…
We study a generalization of the original Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen thought experiment. It is essentially a delayed choice experiment as applied to entangled particles. The basic idea is: given two observers sharing position-momentum…
Bohr and Rosenfeld carried out an analysis of the consequences of field theory commutation relations. In this note the analysis is sharpened. A conjecture of Heisenberg that volume is quantized is shown to be a consequence of the second…
In 1924, S. N. Bose proposed (i) a new counting method for photons and (ii) a probabilistic law of microscopic matter-radiation interactions, treating emission and absorption as two aspects of a single, field-dependent process. While…
It is well known that, in contrast to general relativity, there are two conformally related frames, the Jordan frame and the Einstein frame, in which the Brans-Dicke theory, a prototype of generic scalar-tensor theory, can be formulated.…
Einstein's most famous equation -- $E=mc^2$ -- generated a short-circuit between the concepts of mass and energy, which also affects other concepts like matter, radiation, and vacuum. Physics currently has a mixture of classical,…
A growing number of commentators have, in recent years, noted the important affinities in the views of Immanuel Kant and Niels Bohr. While these commentators are correct, the picture they present of the connections between Bohr and Kant is…
There are two broad opposing classes of attitudes to reality (realist vs idealist, material vs mental) with corresponding attitudes to knowledge (objective vs subjective, scientific vs romantic). I argue that these attitudes can be…
While the notion of the position of photons is indispensable in the quantum optical situations, it has been known in mathematical physics that any position operator cannot be defined for a massless free particle with a non-zero finite spin.…
In this paper is presented a simple alternative model of the dual nature of light, based on the deliberate inversion of the original statement from P. A. M. Dirac: "Each photon interferes only with itself. Interference between different…
Bartkiewicz et al. [Phys. Rev. A 91, 012103 (2015)] provided an alternative analysis of experiment performed by Danan et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 240402 (2013)] which presented surprising evidence regarding the past of photons passing…
Abraham-Minkowski dilemma concerning the momentum of light within dielectric materials has persisted over 100 years[1]-[2] and conflicting experiments were reported until recently[3]-[4]. We perform a reversed Fizeau experiment to test the…
Spatially entangled twin photons provide a test of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) paradox in its original form of position (image plane) versus impulsion (Fourier plane). We show that recording a single pair of images in each plane is…
In this Einstein Year of Physics it seems appropriate to look at an important aspect of Einstein's work that is often down-played: his contribution to the debate on the interpretation of quantum mechanics. Contrary to popular opinion, Bohr…
In 1926 Emil Rupp published a number of papers on the interference properties of light emitted by canal ray sources. These articles, particularly one paper that came into being in collaboration with Albert Einstein, drew quite some…
The ideas and results that are in the background of the 2022 Nobel Prize in physics had an immense impact on our understanding of reality. Therefore, it is crucial that these implications reach also the general public, not only the…