物理学史与哲学

What exists at the fundamental level of reality? On the standard picture, the fundamental reality contains (among other things) fundamental matter, such as particles, fields, or even the quantum state. Non-fundamental facts are explained by…

We develop some ideas about gauge symmetry in the context of Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism in the Hamiltonian formalism. One great benefit of this formalism is that it pairs momentum and configurational degrees of freedom, so that a…

Two of the most difficult problems in the foundations of physics are (1) what gives rise to the arrow of time and (2) what the ontology of quantum mechanics is. I propose a unified 'Humean' solution to the two problems. Humeanism allows us…

The English optician John Dollond (1706-1761) performed a number of experiments with prisms of various transparent materials and concluded that an achromatic lens could exist. At that time, the dominant opinion about light refraction denied…

We present the arguments suggesting that time is emergent in quantum gravity and discuss extensively, but without any technical detail, the many aspects that can be involved in such emergence. We refer to both the physical issues that need…

We argue that several apparently distinct responses to the hole argument, all invoking formal or mathematical considerations, should be viewed as a unified "mathematical response". We then consider and rebut two prominent critiques of the…

Humans have always constructed spaces, through Mythos and Logos, as part of an aspiration to capture the essence of the changing world. This has been a permanent endeavour since the invention of language. By doing this, in fact, Humankind…

Metascientific criteria used for explaining or constraining physical space dimensionality and their historical relationship to prevailing causal systems are discussed. The important contributions by Aristotle, Kant and Ehrenfest to the…

In this article, we present new comments to the article On Kant's First Insight Into The Problem of Space Dimensionality and Its Physical Foundations. In particular, we discuss how the space concept is designed in the first writing of Kant.…

Some ideas aimed to understand that time is one-dimensional are briefly reviewed. Some attempts to construct theories in varieties with more spatial and temporal components are presented. It is discussed, from the epistemological point of…

Enrico Fermi was one of the greater physicists of the XX century. In 1934, he gave several lectures in Brazil. Invited by Theodoro Ramos to work in S\~ao Paulo, he preferred to stay in Rome and went to the USA in 1938. However, Fermi…

Why is space 3-dimensional? The first answer to this question, entirely based on Physics, was given by Ehrenfest, in 1917, who showed that the stability requirement for $n$-dimensional two-body planetary system very strongly constrains…

In this article it is shown that a careful analysis of Kant's "Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces" leads to a conclusion that does not match the usually accepted interpretation of Kant's reasoning in 1747, according to which…

A general sketch of how the problem of space dimensionality depends on Anthropic arguments is presented. A new argument in favor of a stable scenario for space dimensionality for a time scale longer than that required for the existence of…

Bohr's atomic model, its relationship to the radiation spectrum of the hydrogen atom and the inherent hypotheses are revisited. It is argued that Bohr could have adopted a different approach, focusing his analyzes on the stationary orbit of…

When a physicist says that a theory is fine-tuned, they mean that it must make a suspiciously precise assumption in order to explain a certain observation. This is evidence that the theory is deficient or incomplete. One particular case of…

A fundamental tenet of gauge theory is that physical quantities should be gauge-invariant. This prompts the question: can gauge symmetries have physical significance? On one hand, the Noether theorems relate conserved charges to symmetries,…

According to the algebraic approach to spacetime, a thoroughgoing dynamicism, physical fields exist without an underlying manifold. This view is usually implemented by postulating an algebraic structure (e.g., commutative ring) of…

Invented in 1962, holography is a unique merging of art and technology. It persisted at the scientific cutting edge through the 1990s, when digital imaging emerged and supplanted film. Today, holography is experiencing new interest as…

In this paper we consider Montevideo's liberal progressive atmosphere towards the end of the nineteenth century and, within it, the trajectory of young science student Enrique Loedel Palumbo. We discuss some of his activities in Argentina,…