物理学史与哲学

This paper provides a novel metametaphysical approach to quantum indeterminacy. More specifically, it argues that bivalent quantum logic can successfully account for this kind of indeterminacy, given the non-truth-functional character of…

Thomas S. Kuhn interprets the development of the (natural) sciences as a specific dynamical process. Periods of piecemeal growth of knowledge based on widely accepted paradigms are interrupted by bursts of revolutionary changes which lead…

These notes contain -- apart from some physics -- scattered reminiscences of everyday life at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in G\"oteborg in the early eighties. The text has been in the making for many years. Some of it was written…

There is solid consensus among physicists and philosophers that, in gauge field theory, for a quantity to be physically meaningful or real, it must be gauge-invariant. Yet, every "elementary" field in the Standard Model of particle physics…

The ultra-relativistic limit of general relativity is Carroll gravity. In this article, we provide (i) a rigorous and thorough exposition of the geometric formalism of the 'magnetic' version of Carroll gravity, (ii) a presentation of this…

Physical laws are strikingly simple, yet there is no a priori reason for them to be so. I propose that nomic realists -- Humeans and non-Humeans -- should recognize simplicity as a fundamental epistemic guide for discovering and evaluating…

The claim that at the so-called Planck scale our current physics breaks down and a new theory of quantum gravity is required is ubiquitous, but the evidence is shakier than the confidence of those assertions warrants. In this paper, I…

The Many-worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics has captivated physicists and philosophers alike since its inception in the mid-20th century. This paper explores the historical roots, evolution, and implications of the MWI within…

This is a work of hard physical philosophy, where Quantum Perspectivism is shown to function as both an interpretation of quantum mechanics and a physical model for understanding Nietzsche's perspectivism. This framework combines quantum…

On April 1, 2471 bC an impressive, unpredictable phenomenon occurred over the Delta of the Nile: a total solar eclipse, with totality band almost centered on the sacred city of Buto, and with the capital Memphis very close (>95%) to…

The view that the laws of nature produce later states of the universe from earlier ones (prominently defended by Maudlin) faces difficult questions as to how the laws produce the future and whether that production is compatible with special…

This paper explores the intersection of identity, individuality, and reality through competing frameworks, including classical metaphysics, quantum mechanics, and computational theories. Traditional metaphysical notions of fixed identity…

Recently, arXiv published a work by G. Magli about the eclipse of 1 April 2471 BC and a supposed influence of it on the end of the fourth Egyptian dynasty and the beginning of the fifth one. In Magli's arXiv/2412.13640 paper, the eclipse is…

Algorithmic idealism represents a transformative approach to understanding reality, emphasizing the informational structure of self-states and their algorithmic transitions over traditional notions of an external, objective universe. Rooted…

We exploit the results of Bamonti and Gomes (2024) concerning the dynamical (un)coupling of reference frames to gravity to analyse the role of reference frames in the Hole Argument. We introduce a new possible threat to determinism, which…

This is a short historical note about the visit of Prof. G. Klipping of Fritz Haber Institute, Germany, to the low temperature physics laboratory of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. During his visit in 1979, Klipping delivered a…

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton, "for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks." As noted by the Nobel committee, their work moved…

The history of the discovery of nuclear fission and how science fiction had anticipated it.

In recent years, the hope to confirm the existence of dark matter by experimentally detecting it has diminished significantly. After more than 30 years of experimental searches, many of the most promising candidates have since been ruled…

J. Willard Gibbs published a book in 1902 on statistical mechanics that quickly received significant attention from his contemporaries because of the reputation that he had secured with his prior work on thermodynamics. People reading…