物理学史与哲学

The problem of the observer in quantum mechanics is getting new human content. The paradox of Wigner's friend and its extended versions have observers who not only observe quantum phenomena, but communicate, have memories and even…

This paper is a faithful description of the author's career as a scientist, which often intersected that of Yves Couder. The emphasis of this paper is a true description of how the science that the author has been associated with really…

Temperature scale and the Boltzmann constant: The newest system of units is based on a compatible set of natural constants with fixed values. An example is the Boltzmann constant k which defines the thermal energy content kT. To express the…

Since the pioneering works of Newton $(1643-1727)$, Mechanics has been constantly reinventing itself: reformulated in particular by Lagrange $(1736-1813)$ then Hamilton $(1805-1865)$, it now offers powerful conceptual and mathematical tools…

John von Neumann's transformation from a logician of quantum mechanics (QM) in the 1920s to a natural philosopher of computation in the 1950s is discussed. The paper argues for revision of the historical image of Neumann to portray his…

The violation of Bell inequalities seems to establish an important fact about the world: that it is non-local. However, this result relies on the assumption of the statistical independence of the measurement settings with respect to…

Following Columbus' voyages to the Americas, Castilian (Spanish) and Portuguese rulers engaged in heated geopolitical competition, which was eventually reconciled through a number of treaties that divided the world into two unequal…

Kant and Hegel are among the philosophers who are guiding the way in which we reason these days. It is thus of interest to see how physical theories have been developed along the line of Kant and Hegel. Einstein became interested in how…

In this article we present milestone developments in the theory and applications of quantum information from historical perspectives. The domain of quantum information is very promising to develop quantum computer, quantum communication and…

This paper reviews the hole argument as an argument against spacetime substantivalism. After a careful presentation of the argument itself I review possible responses.

If the Past Hypothesis underlies the arrows of time, what is the status of the Past Hypothesis? In this paper, I examine the role of the Past Hypothesis in the Boltzmannian account and defend the view that the Past Hypothesis is a candidate…

I critically discuss two dogmas of the "dynamical approach" to spacetime in general relativity, as advanced by Harvey Brown [Physical Relativity (2005) Oxford:Oxford University Press] and collaborators. The first dogma is that positing a…

This paper offers a synthesis of the positions in the literature regarding controversies about the multiverse. After reviewing some simple elements of modern cosmology and its observational limitations, we will present the history of the…

David Olive, who died in Barton, Cambridgeshire, on 7 November 2012, aged 75, was a theoretical physicist who made seminal contributions to the development of string theory and to our understanding of the structure of quantum field theory.…

A number of problems in physics, mathematics, and philosophy involve observers in given situations which lead to debates about whether observer-specific information should affect the probability for some outcome or hypothesis. Our purpose…

Research in Theoretical Quantum Gravity has continued expansively even as it has become detached from classic arbiters of research such as direct empirical falsification. This makes it an interesting test case for social-scientific theories…

Contemporary research programs in fundamental physics appear to suggest that there could be two (physical) times---or none at all. This essay articulates these possibilities in the context of quantum gravity, and in particular of…

The article below is based on lectures delivered to new students remotely in the course of orientation. It presents the quantum theory tree from its inception a century ago till today. The main focus is on the nuclear physics - HEP branch.

This paper pushes back against the Democritean-Newtonian tradition of assuming a strict conceptual dichotomy between spacetime and matter. Our approach proceeds via the more narrow distinction between modified gravity/spacetime (MG) and…

This paper scrutinises the tenability of a strict conceptual distinction between space(time) and matter via the lens of the debate between modified gravity and dark matter. In particular, we consider Berezhiani and Khoury's novel…