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arXiv2010

Geometry and perspective in the landscape of the Saqqara pyramids

A series of peculiar, visual alignments between the pyramids of the pharaohs of the 4, 5 and 6 Egyptian dynasties exists. These alignments governed from the very beginning the planning of the funerary monuments of successive kings and, in some cases, led to establish building sites in quite inconvenient locations from the technical viewpoint. Explaining the topography of these monuments means therefore also investigating on their symbolic motivations: religion, power, dynastic lineage and social context, as well as getting insights on the skills of the ancient architects in astronomy and geometry. In the present paper we focus on the relationships between the Old Kingdom pyramids at Saqqara.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2009

Re: Re: A contribution to the history of quarks

The emergence of Boris Struminsky's January, 1965 paper with a footnote that introduced a new quark quantum number now known as color caused a response [arXiv:0908.2772] that is seen, perhaps contrary to what it was intended to convey, to corroborate the general picture that comes out of the evidence summarized in [arXiv:0904.0343].

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2011

Supporting Abstract Relational Space-Time as Fundamental without Doctrinism against Emergence

Modern physics, via the standard model with Higgs mechanism and string theory for example, has supplied ether-like models and emergent general relativity scenarios that substantially weaken the usual defense of orthodox relativity and abstract, relational space-time in general. Over a dozen arguments in support of relativism against space-substances are discussed. It is not known whether perceived space-time is fundamental or due to a condensed state or string theoretical membrane. Emergent relativity indicates perhaps a whole tower of more fundamental space-times. Whether space is best described as a thing, an emergent phenomenon, or instead Kant's necessary, a priori pre-condition of the possibility of all phenomena, depends on which space-time is under consideration. Nevertheless, space-time is fundamentally abstract relational. This is supported by throughout acknowledging as well as illustrating the value of space-substance models, yet still keeping firm in refusing them on the deepest level. The gist is that even while refusing, physics and philosophy gain more from ether concepts than from plainly refusing them.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2011

Is the relativity principle consistent with classical electrodynamics? Towards a logico-empiricist reconstruction of a physical theory

The transformation rules for the basic electrodynamical quantities are routinely derived from the hypothesis that the relativity principle (RP) applies for Maxwell's electrodynamics. These derivations leave open several questions: (1) Is the RP a true law of nature for electrodynamical phenomena? (2) Are, at least, the transformation rules of the fundamental electrodynamical quantities, derived from the RP, true? (3) Is the RP consistent with the laws of electrodynamics in one single inertial frame of reference? (4) Are, at least, the derived transformation rules consistent with the laws of electrodynamics in one single frame of reference? (1) and (2) are empirical questions; we will investigate problems (3) and (4). First we will develop a formalism of the RP. In the second part, we will deal with the operational definitions of the fundamental quantities. In the third part of the paper we will show that the proper transformation rules are indeed identical with the ones obtained by presuming the covariance, and that the covariance is indeed satisfied. Problem (3) raises conceptual problems to which there seems no satisfactory solution in electrodynamics; thus, contrary to the widespread views, the question we asked in the title has no obvious answer.

physics.gen-ph↗
arXiv2009

Almost-anywhere Theories. Reductionism and Universality of Emergence

We aim here to show that reductionism and emergence play a complementary role in understanding natural processes and in the dynamics of science explanation. In particular, we will show that the renormalization group - one of the most refined tool of theoretical physics - allows understanding the importance of emergent processes' role in Nature identifying them universal organization processes, which is to say they are scale independent. We can use the syntaxes of Quantum Field Theory (QFT) and Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking as a trans-disciplinary theoretical scenario for many other forms of complexity, especially the biological and cognitive ones.

physics.gen-ph↗
arXiv2010

Multiverse Scenarios in Cosmology: Classification, Cause, Challenge, Controversy, and Criticism

Multiverse scenarios in cosmology assume that other universes exist "beyond" our own universe. They are an exciting challenge both for empirical and theoretical research as well as for philosophy of science. They could be necessary to understand why the big bang occurred, why (some of) the laws of nature and the values of certain physical constants are the way they are, and why there is an arrow of time. This essay clarifies competing notions of "universe" and "multiverse"; it proposes a classification of different multiverse types according to various aspects how the universes are or are not separated from each other; it reviews the main reasons for assuming the existence of other universes: empirical evidence, theoretical explanation, and philosophical arguments; and, finally, it argues that some attempts to criticize multiverse scenarios as "unscientific", insisting on a narrow understanding of falsification, is neither appropriate nor convincing from a philosophy of science point of view. -- Keywords: big bang, universe, multiverse, cosmic inflation, time, quantum gravity, string theory, laws of nature, physical constants, fine-tuning, anthropic principle, philosophy of science, metaphysics, falsificationism

physics.gen-ph↗
arXiv2010

Beyond the Quantum

At the 1927 Solvay conference, three different theories of quantum mechanics were presented; however, the physicists present failed to reach a consensus. Today, many fundamental questions about quantum physics remain unanswered. One of the theories presented at the conference was Louis de Broglie's pilot-wave dynamics. This work was subsequently neglected in historical accounts; however, recent studies of de Broglie's original idea have rediscovered a powerful and original theory. In de Broglie's theory, quantum theory emerges as a special subset of a wider physics, which allows non-local signals and violation of the uncertainty principle. Experimental evidence for this new physics might be found in the cosmological-microwave-background anisotropies and with the detection of relic particles with exotic new properties predicted by the theory.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2010

Unification and Emergence in Physics: the Problem of Articulation

What is physics? What are the limits of what physics can say about the world? In seeking ever-broader theoretical `umbrellas' for physical phenomena, we are seeking unifying principles. Emergent phenomena have turned out to be some of the most difficult to explain, causing a `clash of umbrellas' so-to-speak, at the interface between the quantum and classical domains. This essay explores the role of articulation in this particularly vexing problem and ultimately addresses the question of whether the language and mathematics we use to describe the universe is sufficient in its present form and application.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2011

Better than "flashes": Transactions

I discuss Gisin's result showing that sets of quantum-correlated spacelike events cannot be described by a covariant probability distribution over hidden variables, and his conclusion that Tumulka's "rGRWf" (relativistic GRW "flash ontology" model) is an appropriate model to resolve the apparent conflict between quantum theory and relativity. The contrasts and similarities between the Transactional Interpretation's (TI) handling of a specific measurement result and that of GRW approaches are clarified. I argue that TI resolves the apparent conflict between quantum theory and relativity described by Gisin in a harmonious manner, without the necessity of modifying the theory.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2010

Why all these prejudices against a constant?

The expansion of the observed universe appears to be accelerating. A simple explanation of this phenomenon is provided by the non-vanishing of the cosmological constant in the Einstein equations. Arguments are commonly presented to the effect that this simple explanation is not viable or not sufficient, and therefore we are facing the "great mystery" of the "nature of a dark energy". We argue that these arguments are unconvincing, or ill-founded.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2010

Universal Velocity and Universal Force

In his monumental discoveries, the driving force for Einstein was, I believe, consistency of concept and principle rather than conflict with experiment. Following this Einsteinian dictum, we would first argue that homogeneity (universal character) of space and time characterizes 'no force' (absence of force) and leads to existence of a universal velocity while inhomogeneity (again a universal property) characterizes curved spacetime and presence of a universal force which is present everywhere and always. The former gives rise to Special Relativity while the latter to General Relativity.

physics.gen-ph↗
arXiv2010

Riccioli Measures the Stars: Observations of the telescopic disks of stars as evidence against Copernicus and Galileo in the middle of the 17th century

G. B. Riccioli's 1651 Almagestum Novum contains a table of diameters of stars measured by Riccioli and his associates with a telescope. These telescopically measured star diameters are spurious, caused by the diffraction of light waves through the circular aperture of the telescope, but astronomers of the time, including Riccioli and Galileo Galilei, were unaware of this phenomenon. They believed that they were seeing the physical bodies of stars. In the Almagestum Novum Riccioli uses these telescopically measured disks to determine the physical sizes of stars under both geocentric (or geo-heliocentric - Tychonic) and heliocentric (Copernican) hypotheses. The physical sizes obtained under the Copernican hypothesis are immense - dwarfing the Earth, the Sun, and the Earth's orbit; even exceeding the distances to the stars given by Tycho Brahe. Thus Riccioli felt that telescopic observations were an effective argument against the Copernican system.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2010

Quasi-determinism of weak measurement statistics: Laplace's demon's quantum cousin

Weak measurements can provide a complete characterization of post-selected ensembles, including the uncertainties of observables. Interestingly, the average uncertainties for pure initial and final states are always zero, suggesting the kind of complete knowledge that would allow a knowledge of past, presence and future in the sense of Laplace's demon. However, the quantum version actually describes cancellations of positive and negative uncertainties made possible by the strangeness of weak values. In this paper, I take a closer look at the relation between statistics and causality in quantum mechanics, in an attempt to recover the traces of classical determinism in the statistical relations of quantum measurement outcomes.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2010

The Spirit of Unification: The Wei of Physics

We review, in a historical perspective, developments in physics which led to the emergence of unifying ideas and theories. Some attention is paid to the theoretical programme that started in the second decade of the XXth century and whose objective was to reach a unified description of gravity and electromagnetism. These attempts can be regarded as conceptually akin to the contemporary "theories of everything" which aim to unify all interactions of Nature.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2012

The Problem of the Observer in Physics

This paper has been withdrawn by the author. In this short paper I present a new approach to the problem of measurement, based on the difference between language (reality) and meta-language (meta-reality). This way, it will be shown as the measurement is a meta-sentence on a real event. It is no longer necessary to split up the world into subject and object with a shifty boundary, but starting with an holistic event (the phenomenon) in which everything is entangled and make meta-assertion on this. This possible way out stops von Neumann's chain and explains the real meaning of the concept of measurement.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2010

Gravity, an essential property of matter?

The aim of this short note is to realize that the main reason for non-mechanistic explanation of Newton's gravitational attraction, is explicitly encapsulated in his famous General Scholium of the second Edition of Principia Mathematica (1713).

math.HO↗
arXiv2010

"Astronomy" or "astrology": a brief history of an apparent confusion

The modern usage of the words astronomy and astrology is traced back to distinctions, largely ignored in recent scholarship. Three interpretations of celestial phenomena (in a geometric, a substantialist and a prognostic versions) coexisted during the Hellenistic period. From Plato to Isidore of Seville, semantic changes are evidenced and their later development is sketched.

physics.hist-ph↗