from philsciSat Feb 24 2024 03:37:45 (8 hours)# 1.
Taschetto, Diana (2024) The Thermodynamic Origins and Dynamical Foundations of Quantum Discontinuity. [Preprint]
from physics.hist-ph by Zhi-Wei Wang, Samuel L. BraunsteinFri Feb 23 2024 09:38:07 (1 day)# 2.
arXiv:2109.10241v4 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Random sampling in high dimensions has successfully been applied to phenomena as diverse as nuclear resonances, neural networks and black hole evaporation. Here we revisit an elegant argument by the British physicist Dennis Sciama, which demonstrated that were our universe random, it would almost certainly have a negligible chance for life. Under plausible assumptions, we show that a random universe can masquerade as `intelligently designed,’ with the fundamental constants instead appearing to be fined tuned to be achieve the highest probability for life to occur. For our universe, this mechanism may only require there to be around a dozen currently unknown fundamental constants. We speculate on broader applications for the mechanism we uncover.
from quant-ph by Ossama KullieFri Feb 23 2024 09:37:55 (1 day)# 3.
arXiv:2402.14431v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: The measurement of the tunneling time-delay in attosecond experiments, termed attoclock, despite its controversies, offers a fruitful opportunity to understand the tunneling time and the tunnel-ionization process. In previous work, we showed a model that well describes the time-delay measured by the attoclock experiment in the adiabatic and nonadiabatic field calibrations. In the present work we show that the tunneling time reveals a universal behavior, with disentangled contribution, where the barrier time-delay can be convincingly defined and determined from the difference between the time-delay of adiabatic and nonadiabatic tunnel-ionization, with good agreement with the experimental result. Furthermore, we show that in the weak measurement limit, the barrier time-delay corresponds to the Larmor-clock time and the interaction time within the barrier.
from quant-ph by \’Alvaro Peralta CondeFri Feb 23 2024 09:37:54 (1 day)# 4.
arXiv:2402.14443v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: This manuscript explores how a seemingly straightforward inquiry, emerging from the widely accepted semiclassical description of laser-matter interaction, concretely from a well-known adiabatic technique as Coherent Population Return (CPR), can pose a challenge to our comprehension of a fundamental principle in Physics like energy conservation. Throughout our investigation to resolve this apparent paradox, we have delved into fundamental concepts, thereby deepening our understanding of the aspects inherent to the formalism of Quantum Mechanics. We emphasize that the significance of attaining a conclusive answer extends beyond the answer itself, encompassing the illuminating journey undertaken to reach it. Consequently, our work holds educational value as it aims to foster a deeper understanding of the phenomenon by elucidating the process employed. This approach not only aids students in grasping the subject matter but also enhances our own understanding of laser-matter interaction and the counterintuitive phenomena that continuously defied our understanding of Quantum Mechanics.
from philsciThu Feb 22 2024 02:57:39 (2 days)# 5.
Ellerman, David (2024) A New Logic, a New Information Measure, and a New Information-Based Approach to Interpreting Quantum Mechanics. Entropy, 26 (2). ISSN 1099-4300
from philsciWed Feb 21 2024 17:05:31 (2 days)# 6.
Ruyant, Quentin (2023) Consistent histories through pragmatist lenses. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 98. pp. 40-48. ISSN 00393681
from physics.hist-ph by Nadia Blackshaw, Nick Huggett, James LadymanWed Feb 21 2024 07:56:37 (3 days)# 7.
arXiv:2402.06848v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: This paper investigates the formation and propagation of wavefunction `branches’ through the process of entanglement with the environment. While this process is a consequence of unitary dynamics, and hence significant to many if not all approaches to quantum theory, it plays a central role in many recent articulations of the Everett or `many worlds’ interpretation. A highly idealized model of a locally interacting system and environment is described, and investigated in several situations in which branching occurs, including those involving Bell inequality violating correlations; we illustrate how any non-locality is compatible with the locality of the dynamics. Although branching is particularly important for many worlds quantum theory, we take a neutral stance here, simply tracing out the consequences of a unitary dynamics. The overall goals are to provide a simple concrete realization of the quantum physics of branch formation, and especially to emphasise the compatibility of branching with relativity; the paper is intended to illuminate matters both for foundational work, and for the application of quantum theory to non-isolated systems.
from PRA – fundamentalconcepts by Joshua Foo, Austin P. Lund, and Timothy C. RalphWed Feb 21 2024 05:00:00 (3 days)# 8.
Author(s): Joshua Foo, Austin P. Lund, and Timothy C. Ralph
In a recent article [Nat. Commun. 13, 2 (2022)], we devised a method of constructing the Lorentz-covariant Bohmian trajectories of single photons via weak measurements of the photon’s momentum and energy. However, whether such a framework can consistently describe multiparticle interactions remains …
[Phys. Rev. A 109, 022229] Published Wed Feb 21, 2024
from philsciTue Feb 20 2024 21:46:08 (3 days)# 9.
Kabel, Viktoria and de la Hamette, Anne-Catherine and Apadula, Luca and Cepollaro, Carlo and Gomes, Henrique and Butterfield, Jeremy and Brukner, Caslav (2024) Identification is Pointless: Quantum Reference Frames, Localisation of Events, and the Quantum Hole Argument. [Preprint]
from philsciTue Feb 20 2024 21:45:36 (3 days)# 10.
Susan, S. G. (2021) Mach on Analogy in Science. [Preprint]
from physics.hist-ph by Naresh Dadhich, K Rajesh NayakTue Feb 20 2024 09:17:05 (4 days)# 11.
arXiv:2402.11503v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: With his seminal and pioneering work on the stability of the Schwarzschild black hole and its interaction with gravitational radiation, Vishu had opened a new window on black hole astrophysics. One of the interesting results that soon followed was that “a black hole has no hair”, it is entirely specified by the three parameters, mass, spin and charge, and nothing more. The discovery of gravitational waves in 2016 produced by merger of two black holes, and observed by the Ligo-Virgo collaboration, carried the definitive signature of quasi-normal modes, the phenomenon of black hole ringdown, exactly what Vishu had predicted in his 1970 Nature paper~(See Isaacson’s commentary) 46 years ago. This was the crowning glory.
from physics.hist-ph by William J. Wolf, James ReadTue Feb 20 2024 09:17:04 (4 days)# 12.
arXiv:2302.07180v4 Announce Type: replace Abstract: A standard line in the contemporary philosophical literature has it that physical theories are equivalent only when they agree on their empirical content, where this empirical content is often understood as being encoded in the equations of motion of those theories. In this article, we question whether it is indeed the case that the empirical content of a theory is exhausted by its equations of motion, showing that (for example) considerations of boundary conditions play a key role in the empirical equivalence (or otherwise) of theories. Having argued for this, we show that philosophical claims made by Knox (2011) that general relativity is equivalent to teleparallel gravity, and by Weatherall (2016) that electromagnetism in the Faraday tensor formalism is equivalent to electromagnetism in the vector potential formalism, can both be called into question. We then show that properly considering the role of boundary conditions in theory structure can potentially restore these claims of equivalence and close with some remarks on the pragmatics of adjudications on theory identity.
from physics.hist-ph by \’Alvaro Mozota FraucaTue Feb 20 2024 09:17:03 (4 days)# 13.
arXiv:2306.14935v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: In this paper I argue that the fundamental aspect of our notion of time is that it defines an order relation, be it a total order relation between configurations of the world or just a partial order relation between events. This position is in contrast with a relationalist view popular in the quantum gravity literature, according to which it is just correlations between physical quantities that we observe and which capture every aspect of temporality in the world, at least according to general relativity. I argue that the view of time as defining an order relation is perfectly compatible with the way general relativity is applied, while the relationalist view has to face some challenges. This debate is important not only from the perspective of the metaphysics of space and time and of how to interpret our physical theories, but also for the development and understanding of theories of quantum gravity.
from physics.hist-ph by \’Alvaro Mozota FraucaTue Feb 20 2024 09:17:02 (4 days)# 14.
arXiv:2307.11805v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: In this paper I introduce the idea of geometrogenesis as suggested in the group field theory literature and I offer a criticism of it. Geometrogenesis in the context of GFT is the idea that what we observe as the big bang is nothing else but a phase transition from a non-geometric phase of the universe to a geometric one which is the one we live in and the one to which the spacetime concepts apply. GFT offers the machinery to speak about geometric and non-geometric phases, but I argue that there are serious conceptual issues that threaten the viability of the idea. Some of these issues are directly related to the foundations of GFT and are concerned with the fact that it isn’t clear what GFT amounts to and how to understand it. The other main source of trouble has to do with geometrogenesis itself and its conceptual underpinnings as it is unclear whether it requires the addition of an extra temporal or quasitemporal dimension which is unwanted and problematic.
from physics.hist-ph by Thomas HalesTue Feb 20 2024 09:17:01 (4 days)# 15.
arXiv:2309.13468v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Robert A. Millikan (1868-1953) was the second American to win the Nobel Prize in physics. At the peak of his influence, no scientist save Einstein was more admired by the American public. Millikan, the head of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) during its first 24 years, oversaw its rapid growth into one of the leading scientific institutions of the world. In response to demands for social justice, Caltech reached a decision to strip Millikan of honors (such as the library named after him), following accusations against him. This article analyzes a specific accusation against Millikan that was published in Nature: that he collaborated to deprive Japanese Americans of their rights during their forced relocation to internment camps during the Second World War. An examination of original historical sources will show that this accusation is false. On the contrary, Millikan actively campaigned during the war to promote the rights of Japanese Americans. The article also treats Caltech’s central accusation against Millikan: he lent his name to a morally reprehensible eugenics movement that had been scientifically discredited in his time. In a reversal of Caltech’s claims, this article shows that all three of Caltech’s scientific witnesses against eugenics were actually pro-eugenic to varying degrees. Millikan’s beliefs fell within acceptable scientific norms of his day.
from PRA – fundamentalconcepts by David Schmid, John H. Selby, and Robert W. SpekkensTue Feb 20 2024 05:00:00 (4 days)# 16.
Author(s): David Schmid, John H. Selby, and Robert W. Spekkens
When should a given operational phenomenology be deemed to admit of a classical explanation? When it can be realized in a generalized-noncontextual ontological model. The case for answering the question in this fashion has been made in many previous works and motivates research on the notion of gene…
[Phys. Rev. A 109, 022228] Published Tue Feb 20, 2024
from philsciMon Feb 19 2024 18:44:02 (4 days)# 17.
Rickles, Dean (2023) Your Cosmos Needs You! From Nothingness to Quantum Existentialism. [Preprint]
from physics.hist-ph by Alexei V. TkachenkoMon Feb 19 2024 10:14:46 (5 days)# 18.
arXiv:2311.04893v3 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Even a century after the formulation of Quantum Mechanics (QM), the wave function collapse (WFC) remains a contentious aspect of the theory. Environment-induced decoherence has offered a partial resolution by illustrating how unitary evolution in an open quantum system can lead to effective WFC within its components. However, this approach by itself does not lead to a fully self-consistent reformulation of QM. We introduce a modified set of QM postulates, which exclude both WFC and Born’s probability rule. They are replaced with the Maximum Entropy Principle, a weaker postulate that specifies conditional probabilities for mutually compatible observations. Within this formulation, both WFC and Born’s rule become emerging properties.
from philsciMon Feb 19 2024 04:52:37 (5 days)# 19.
Lorenzetti, Lorenzo (2024) Making Sense of Gravitational Thermodynamics. [Preprint]
