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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2007

Whitehead's Trilogy and the Curvature of Spacetime

My object in the present paper is to: (1) introduce physicists to the life and work of Whitehead; (2) outline the content of his book "The Principle of Relativity"; (3) present Whitehead's basic criticism of the General Theory of Relativity which, to my mind, has never been rebutted or properly appreciated, even by GTR specialists; (4) propose a significant relevant research problem; and (5) summarize some of the rather radical implications of the acceptance of Whitehead's observations, including that spacetime is not curved.

physics.gen-ph↗
arXiv2007

Clarifying Einstein's First Derivation for Mass-Energy Equivalence and Consequently Making Ives's Criticism a Void

We study physical situation considered by Einstein (Ann. Physik, 17, 1905) for his first derivation of mass-energy equivalence. Einstein introduced a constant $C$ in his derivation and reasoning surrounding $C$ and equations containing $C$ caused criticism by Ives. Here we clarify Einstein's derivation and obtain a value for constant $C$. The obtained zero value for $C$ suggests alternative explanation for Einstein's derivation and makes Ives's criticism a void and for which details are also presented in this paper.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2007

From semiconductors to quantum gravity: to centenary of Matvei Bronstein

Investigation of the many-body condensed-matter systems allows us to connect the microscopic physics at the atomic energy scale and the macroscopic physics emerging in the low-energy corner. It gives some hints on the mechanisms of the formation of the physical laws which our Universe obeys. The paper is devoted to the centenary of Matvei Petrovich Bronstein.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2007

Indian Cosmological Ideas

This paper, third in the series on Indian tradition of physics, describes conceptions of the cosmos with ideas that are clearly spelt out in texts such as Yoga Vasishtha.In particular, the conception of multiple universes that occurs often in this text will be examined in the framework of the Indian physics. The other surprising concepts that are discussed include flow of time and its variability with respect to different observers, and the possibility of passage across universes.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2007

Enrico Fermi's view of identical particles

In this paper I discuss Enrico Fermi's view of identical particles, taking a lecture that he gave in 1933 as a starting point. Fermi used his lecture as a basis for a paper that was published in 1934: the paper is in italian and is not easily accessible to a wide audience, and for this reason its translation is also given in a section of the present paper.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2007

Brownian Motion, "Diverse and Undulating"

We describe in detail the history of Brownian motion, as well as the contributions of Einstein, Sutherland, Smoluchowski, Bachelier, Perrin and Langevin to its theory. The always topical importance in physics of the theory of Brownian motion is illustrated by recent biophysical experiments, where it serves, for instance, for the measurement of the pulling force on a single DNA molecule. In a second part, we stress the mathematical importance of the theory of Brownian motion, illustrated by two chosen examples. The by-now classic representation of the Newtonian potential by Brownian motion is explained in an elementary way. We conclude with the description of recent progress seen in the geometry of the planar Brownian curve. At its heart lie the concepts of conformal invariance and multifractality, associated with the potential theory of the Brownian curve itself.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2007

Complementarity in the Bohr-Einstein Photon Box

The photon box thought experiment can be considered a forerunner of the EPR-experiment: by performing suitable measurements on the box it is possible to ``prepare'' the photon, long after it has escaped, in either of two complementary states. Consistency requires that the corresponding box measurements be complementary as well. At first sight it seems, however, that these measurements can be jointly performed with arbitrary precision: they pertain to different systems (the center of mass of the box and an internal clock, respectively). But this is deceptive. As we show by explicit calculation, although the relevant quantities are simultaneously measurable, they develop non-vanishing commutators when calculated back to the time of escape of the photon. This justifies Bohr's qualitative arguments in a precise way; and it illustrates how the details of the dynamics conspire to guarantee the requirements of complementarity. In addition, our calculations exhibit a ``fine structure'' in the distribution of the uncertainties over the complementary quantities: depending on \textit{when} the box measurement is performed, the resulting quantum description of the photon differs. This brings us close to the argumentation of the later EPR thought experiment.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2007

El universo de Einstein: 1905 - annus mirabilis - 2005

Year 2005 was the World Year of Physics, and it was commemorated worldwide as the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's legendary works in which the foundations of at least three areas of modern physics were laid: statistical mechanics, quantum mechanics and special relativity. These works turned year 1905 in what deservedly was called the "miraculous year" (annus mirabilis) of Einstein. However, the influence of this great mind was not limited to science. As it is well known, his fingerprint remains engraved in many aspects of our daily life. Because of that, in this work we have tried to cover almost all the subjects in which Einstein was involved during the last century and, of course, try and reveal the future projection his actions will have in this new century that has just begun. Among the subjects covered in the volume one can find the possible connection between Einstein and the artistic vanguard movement, his religiosity, his days in Argentina, the Nobel Prize, the Einstein-Freud correspondence, his pacifism and the nuclear energy, science and politics under the Second Empire and the Weimar Republic, and even a description of his patents and experiments, the studies performed to search for "built-in" features in his brain and the doubts many had regarding whether Einstein was a genius or a crank. Also included are essays on Einstein and Borges, philosophy and relativity, Mach's principle, the relation among science, arts and humanities, and, closer to Einstein's own theoretical research, the twin paradox, chance and quantum mechanics, the arrow of time, gravitational lenses, string theory, holography and black holes, gravitomagnetism, superconductivity, gravitational waves, the photoelectric effect and the alternative theories for gravitation.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2007

Coulomb oscillations as a remedy for the helium atom

The largest failure of the old, Bohr-Sommerfeld quantum theory was with the helium atom. It brought about the theory's demise. I show that this failure does not originate, as commonly believed, with the orbit concept per se. Instead, it was caused by the wrong choice of orbits, compounded by ignorance of the exclusion principle. Choosing semiclassical electron oscillations through the He nucleus, I calculate a singlet ground-state energy that rivals in accuracy with quantum-mechanical results. The same method reveals Bohr's historic energy value as the forbidden triplet ground state--a result beyond the reach of quantum mechanics. At the qualitative level, the concept of Coulomb oscillations visually explains the major features in the He double spectrum in terms of crossed or parallel orbit orientation.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2007

Einstein and early 20th Century avant-garde art: points of contact?

Art history linked some early 20th Century avant-garde visual art movements to contemporary systems of ideas in mathematics and theoretical physics. One of the proposed connections is the one that might have existed between Cubism and Relativity, or more precisely, between Picasso and Einstein. The suggested links are similarity (in a weak version) or identity (in a strong version) in matters of space, time and simultaneity. It is possible, however, that these supposed links of Einstein and avant-garde art movements were more the product of the imagination of historians and critics, than the result of connections between painters and scientists. On the one hand, the visual arts (in contrast to music, as far as we now) were of no interest to Einstein, who, moreover, did not seem inclined or knowledgeable enough to appreciate advanced forms. On the other hand, Einstein's theories fell outside the artists' ken, let alone their understanding, although there are firm clues pointing to the fact that repercussions of those theories in the press and in literary circles could have fired the imagination of some artists.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2007

From Newton to Einstein: the birth of Special Relativity

Physics was in crisis at the beginning of the twentieth century because the newborn Maxwell's electromagnetism defied mechanistic preconceptions. Albert Einstein understood that the solution to the crisis required an audacious reworking of the concepts of space and time. Special Relativity deeply modified our way of regarding space and time, in order to harmonize electromagnetism with the principle of relativity. As a consequence, lengths and elapsed times were stripped of the invariant character that classical Physics conferred them; in their place, the speed of light acquired that privileged status. Such revolutionary change forced Einstein to reformulate Newtonian mechanics, a step that led him to discover the mass-energy equivalence.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2007

Philosophy and Relativity

With his General Theory of Relativity, Albert Einstein produced a revolution in our conception of reality and of the knowledge we can obtain from it. This revolution can be viewed from philosophy as leading to one of the great paradigms in the history of thought which, together with the Aristotelian and the Newtonian paradigms, embodied the different ways of conceiving the universe and our access to it. The comparison among these three paradigms allows us to understand how the human being has progressively lost his central place in the cosmos, not only in physical terms, but also in an epistemic sense, regarding his power of knowledge about reality.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2007

Einstein against quantum mechanics: randomness, ignorance and our ignorance about randomness

Albert Einstein made fundamental contributions to the development of quantum mechanics. However, he was never satisfied with the quantum worldview. In fact, during most of his life he attempted to find inconsistencies and paradoxes within quantum mechanics. His famous quote "God does not play dice" shows how disturbing was to Einstein one of the most important aspects of quantum mechanics: non-determinism. In this paper we will present the basic concepts of quantum mechanics, we will describe Einstein's attempts to destroy it and we will discuss why we can nowadays state that, in this regard, Albert Einstein was not right.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2007

Between Pacifism and Nuclear Energy (1930-1955)

The atomic bomb American program known as Manhattan Project has been studied in detail. Historians argue that the beginning of this program is rooted in the letter Einstein sent to American President Roosevelt in the summer of 1939. This article examines Einstein's activities before 1933 as radical pacifist in favor of the principles of universal disarmament and outspoken supporter of individual war resistance and the shift of this posture when Hitler came to power in 1933. In this context, we discuss the role played by nuclear physicists during the Second World War and Einstein's decision to promote the construction of an atomic weapon in the United States. Finally, the article analyzes Einstein's struggle against the atomic race during the beginning of the cold war.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2007

Einstein in the crossroad of the sciences, arts and humanities

Western thinking underwent a turning point between 1885 and 1925. Einstein in 1905 symbolizes the emblematic hinge of this change of direction. To find an equivalent phenomenon in the past we need to go back to the period from the XV century to the XVII century. It was not a mere reform of codes but a new code. In 1905 the perception of reality changed through the introduction of relativism in three levels of the reference systems: the ego-other relation, the world perceived by the senses, and the 'ideal' universe of the concepts. We will try to identify how this change was expressed and developed in the cited levels, both in the physic and nature based sciences, in the social sciences, and in literature and fine arts. Today, 100 years after, the 1905's generation still proposes us two options: to live sheltered by the dogma that reassures us with its only and exclusive viewpoint claimed objective, or to dare to live with the multiple, the transient, the relative. The first way led to the worst regimes and intolerant ideas of the XX century, the second option throws us into the uncertainty of the creative adventure, but also leads us to the possibility of a fairer society in the XXI century.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2007

Possible astronomical references in the planning of the Great Hopewell Road

The possible existence of astronomical references in the planning of the so-called Great Hopewell Road, a 90 Kilometres straight road composed of two parallel earthen embankments which, according to recent surveys, likely connected the Hopewell ceremonial centres of Newark and Chillicothe, Ohio, are investigated. It turns out that a very peculiar, although simple, set of astronomical alignments took place in connection with the road during possible periods of its construction. The possibility of a non-fortuitous connection is thus proposed and analysed.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2007

Hans-Juergen Treder and the discovery of confinement in Einstein's unified field theory

In the year 1957, when interest in Einstein's unified field theory was fading away for lack of understanding of its physical content, Treder performed a momentous critical analysis of the possible definitions of the electric four-current in the theory. As an outcome of this scrutiny he was able to prove by the E.I.H. method that properly defined point charges, appended at the right-hand side of the field equation $R_{[[\mu\nu],\lambda]}=0$, interact mutually with Coulomb-like forces, provided that a mutual force independent of distance is present too. This unwanted, but unavoidable addition, could not but lay further disbelief on the efforts initiated by Einstein and Schroedinger one decade earlier. However in 1980 Treder himself recalled that the potential $\phi=a/r+cr$, found by him in 1957, was the one used by particle physicists to account phenomenologically for the spectrum of bound quark systems like mesons. Exact solutions have later confirmed beyond any doubt that Einstein's unified field theory does account in a simple way, already in classical form, for the confinement of pole charges defined by the four-current first availed of by Treder. In the present paper it is proposed, ad memoriam, a thorough recollection of the article published by Treder in 1957, showing the way kept by him to find what would have been later recognized as confinement in Einstein's unified field theory.

physics.hist-ph↗