Unity Of Physics Research Articles

Physics of evolution and unity of physics

The article considers the question of the possibility of constructing classical mechanics and empirical branches of physics, such as thermodynamics, statistical physics and kinetics on a general theoretical basis. The principles of constructing mechanics, thermodynamics, statistical physics, and kinetics are briefly given. It is shown how the construction of the above sections of physics on a unified basis became possible, relying on the mechanics of a structured body. The essence of this mechanics is that, unlike Newton’s mechanics, built for a body model in the form of a material point, this mechanics is built based on a body model in the form of a structured body. Moreover, the structured body is specified in the form of an equilibrium system of potentially interacting material points. It is shown how the equation of motion of a structured body is derived. The peculiarity of this equation is that it takes into account the transformation of the energy of motion of a structured body into internal energy when it moves in an inhomogeneous field of forces. This makes it possible to describe dissipative processes within the framework of the mechanics of a structured body without invoking statistical laws. Examples are given of how the empirical principles of the phenomenological branches of physics directly follow from the fundamental laws of physics.

СОСТОЯНИЯ СОЗНАНИЯ, ПРОБЛЕМА НАБЛЮДАТЕЛЯ, ПОЗНАНИЕ (ИЛИ О ЕДИНСТВЕ ТРАНСЦЕНДЕНТАЛЬНОЙ ПСИХОЛОГИИ, ФИЗИКИ И ФИЛОСОФИИ). ЧАСТЬ I

Currently, there is an intensification of integration processes in science as a result of an increasing number of approaches and points of view on the same subject of research, leading to the convergence of sciences, creation of metatheories and interdisciplinary connections, thanks to the efforts of many researchers from different fields of science. In this context, the article attempts to show the unity of transcendental psychology, physics and philosophy in solving epistemological problems. The present article discusses the question of correspondence of the perceived or observed world with the world itself, with the world as it is «in reality». In connection with understanding of this issue, D. Berkeley, N. Bohr, W. Heisenberg, A. Einstein, A. N. Leontiev, A. I. Mirakyan’s views are being discussed. On the basis of the analysis carried out, the following assumption is made: the reason for insolubility of this problem within the framework of opposing philosophical directions is the discrepancy between levels and states of consciousness of representatives of these scientific directions. Dependence of the perception of the world and paradigm shifts on changes in the states of consciousness are shown. In the context of changes in states of consciousness, the issues of transcending and transitions from one reality to another are considered. A comparative analysis with the provisions of virtualistics is carried out. In the second part of the article, the features of external and internal observers and their relation to the process of cognition in the context of states of consciousness are going to be discussed.

God, Logic, and Quantum Information

Quantum information is discussed as the universal substance of the world. It is interpreted as that generalization of classical information, which includes both finite and transfinite ordinal numbers. On the other hand, any wave function and thus any state of any quantum system is just one value of quantum information. Information and its generalization as quantum information are considered as quantities of elementary choices. Their units are correspondingly a bit and a qubit. The course of time is what generates choices by itself, thus quantum information and any item in the world in final analysis. The course of time generates necessarily choices so: The future is absolutely unorderable in principle while the past is always well-ordered and thus unchangeable. The present as the mediation between them needs the well-ordered theorem equivalent to the axiom of choice. The latter guarantees the choice even among the elements of an infinite set, which is the case of quantum information. The concrete and abstract objects share information as their common base, which is quantum as to the formers and classical as to the latters. The general quantities of matter in physics, mass and energy can be considered as particular cases of quantum information. The link between choice and abstraction in set theory allows of “Hume’s principle” to be interpreted in terms of quantum mechanics as equivalence of “many” and “much” underlying quantum information. Quantum information as the universal substance of the world calls for the unity of physics and mathematics rather than that of the concrete and abstract objects and thus for a form of quantum neo-Pythagoreanism in final analysis.

Diffusion Cloud Chamber in Education

Radioactivity and the accompanying ionizing radiations are important part of the environment. They cannot be observed by humans. However, with the cloud chamber everyone can easily see that the radiations are really present in our environment. Using cloud chambers in public education students are able to gain direct experiences in many fields like natural and artificial radioactivity, characteristics of the particles, features of the quantum world, random nature of the processes as well as the unity of classic and contemporary physics. Pictures, videos, descriptions and computer codes assisting the evaluation may be really useful in lessons and in different studies including university education.

Commentary: Unity of physics perhaps not as grand as once thought

Commentary: Unity of physics perhaps not as grand as once thought

The evolving unity of physics

Modern theoretical physics is indivisible. Ideas flow freely and fruitfully across traditional boundaries separating materials physics, fundamental physics and cosmology. How did this state of affairs come to be? What are its outstanding results? Is there more to come? Frank Wilczek discusses the synergy between the different fields of physics.

Deep Unity of Classic and Quantum Physics at the Space Thermostat Presence with Technical Applications

The paper demonstrates deep unity of classic and quantum physics at the space thermostat (ST) presence, which fulfilled all space by the temperature T0 = 2.73 K. The ST presents itself the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). From the main quantum position we consider the ST/CMB as the wave function carrier (“quantum background”). The paper is devoted to ST/CMB medium the classic conservation laws of mass, momentum and energy. We show the soliton like solutions of our classic model correspond to Schrodinger’s quantum solutions, demonstrate the atom hydrogen specter and other quantum peculiarities. The paper contains typical technical examples classic/ quantum simulation at the ST presence.

Die Verantwortungsethik als Weg in die Zukunft

The basic concept in the philosophy of Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker is the concept of time. Playing the dominant role in the thought and philosophy of Weizsäcker, the concept is the point of departure for an attempt to find ways to cognize and recreate the unity of Nature, to understand “the unity of physics” and its reconstruction in the neo-Kantian spirit, as well as seek and analyse conditions of the possibilities of science and its ethical dimension. In this context Weizsäcker analyses relations between the structure of time and the ethical responsibility of a man practising science. The present study aims to demonstrate the basic elements of this relation as the foundation of the ethics of scientific research. Responsible scientific research is only possible when men operating within the field are guided by objective principles of the ethics of responsibility.

The London–Anderson–Englert–Brout–Higgs–Guralnik–Hagen–Kibble–Weinberg mechanism and Higgs boson reveal the unity and future excitement of physics

The particle recently discovered by the CMS and ATLAS collaborations at CERN is almost certainly a Higgs boson, fulfilling a quest that can be traced back to three seminal high-energy papers of 1964, but which is intimately connected to ideas in other areas of physics that go back much further. One might oversimplify the history of the features which (i) give mass to the W and Z particles that mediate the weak nuclear interaction, (ii) effectively break gauge invariance, (iii) eliminate physically unacceptable Nambu–Goldstone bosons, and (iv) give mass to fermions (like the electron) by collectively calling them the London–Anderson–Englert–Brout–Higgs–Guralnik–Hagen–Kibble–Weinberg mechanism. More important are the implications for the future: a Higgs boson appears to point toward supersymmetry, since new physics is required to protect its mass from enormous quantum corrections, while the discovery of neutrino masses seems to point toward grand unification of the non-gravitational forces.

Physics: The First Science.

Today's physics textbooks have become encyclopedic, offering students dry discussions, rote formulas, and exercises with little relation to the real world. Physics: The First Science takes a different approach by offering uniquely accessible, student-friendly explanations, historical and philosophical perspectives and mathematics in easy-to-comprehend dialogue. It emphasizes the unity of physics and its place as the basis for all science. Examples and worked solutions are scattered throughout the narrative to help increase understanding. Students are tested and challenged at the end of each chapter with questions ranging from a guided-review designed to mirror the examples, to problems, reasoning skill building exercises that encourage students to analyze unfamiliar situations, and interactive simulations developed at the University of Colorado. With their experience instructing both students and teachers of physics for decades, Peter Lindenfeld and Suzanne White Brahmia have developed an algebra-based physics book with features to help readers see the physics in their lives. Students will welcome the engaging style, condensed format, and economical price.

The nontriviality of trivial general covariance: How electrons restrict ‘time’ coordinates, spinors (almost) fit into tensor calculus, and [formula omitted] of a tetrad is surplus structure

It is a commonplace in the philosophy of physics that any local physical theory can be represented using arbitrary coordinates, simply by using tensor calculus. On the other hand, the physics literature often claims that spinors as such cannot be represented in coordinates in a curved space-time. These commonplaces are inconsistent. What general covariance means for theories with fermions, such as electrons, is thus unclear. In fact both commonplaces are wrong. Though it is not widely known, Ogievetsky and Polubarinov constructed spinors in coordinates in 1965, enhancing the unity of physics and helping to spawn particle physicists’ concept of nonlinear group representations. Roughly and locally, these spinors resemble the orthonormal basis or “tetrad” formalism in the symmetric gauge, but they are conceptually self-sufficient and more economical. The typical tetrad formalism is de-Ockhamized, with six extra field components and six compensating gauge symmetries to cancel them out. The Ogievetsky–Polubarinov formalism, by contrast, is (nearly) Ockhamized, with most of the fluff removed. As developed nonperturbatively by Bilyalov, it admits any coordinates at a point, but “time” must be listed first. Here “time” is defined in terms of an eigenvalue problem involving the metric components and the matrix diag(−1,1,1,1), the product of which must have no negative eigenvalues in order to yield a real symmetric square root that is a function of the metric. Thus even formal general covariance requires reconsideration; the atlas of admissible coordinate charts should be sensitive to the types and values of the fields involved.Apart from coordinate order and the usual spinorial two-valuedness, (densitized) Ogievetsky–Polubarinov spinors form, with the (conformal part of the) metric, a nonlinear geometric object, for which important results on Lie and covariant differentiation are recalled. Such spinors avoid a spurious absolute object in the Anderson–Friedman analysis of substantive general covariance. They also permit the gauge-invariant localization of the infinite-component gravitational energy in General Relativity. Density-weighted spinors exploit the conformal invariance of the massless Dirac equation to show that the volume element is absent. Thus instead of an arbitrary nonsingular matrix with 16 components, six of which are gauged away by a new local O(1,3) gauge group and one of which is irrelevant due to conformal covariance, one can, and presumably should, use density-weighted Ogievetsky–Polubarinov spinors coupled to the nine-component symmetric unimodular square root of the part of the metric that fixes null cones. Thus 716 of the orthonormal basis is eliminated as surplus structure. Greater unity between spinors (related to fermions, with half-integral spin) and tensors and the like (related to bosons, with integral spin) is achieved, such as regarding conservation laws.Regarding the conventionality of simultaneity, an unusually wide range of ϵ values is admissible, but some extreme values are inadmissible. Standard simultaneity uniquely makes the spinor transformation law linear and independent of the metric, because transformations among the standard Cartesian coordinate systems fall within the conformal group, for which the spinor transformation law is linear. The surprising mildness of the restrictions on coordinate order as applied to the Schwarzschild solution is exhibited.

The Unity of Physics and Poetry: H. C. Ørsted and the Aesthetics of Force

This article briefly outlines Ørsted's early aesthetic thought by placing it in the context of his affiliations with early German romanticism, and by examining the poetics and philosophy of language contained in a prize-winning essay on aesthetics that he wrote in 1796. Further, this article presents an example of how aesthetic and linguistic strategies in his writing helped shape the meaning of the theoretical terms utilized in his early scientific work. Toward this end, the focus of the article will be limited to a central passage from the first installment of his Kemiske Breve (Chemical Letters), which he published in 1798 at the age of twenty-one.

Rethinking the content of physics courses

Physics students, particularly in today’s information age, need to understand the unity of physics and the way in which scientific knowledge is generated.

New Directions in Statistical Physics: Econophysics, Bioinformatics, and Pattern Recognition

New Directions in Statistical Physics: Econophysics, Bioinformatics, and Pattern Recognition

Crisis in Physics Spurs Spirited Dialogue

Sidney Nagel claims that the goal of physics to find the basic underlying laws of nature has slowly been eroded—particularly in the US—since the demise of the Superconducting Super Collider. The crash of a few commercial giants indeed depresses the stock market, but physics is not a stock market! Cancellation of the SSC cannot be used to define the vitality of the field. The edifices of particle physics still stand and are used by our cosmology colleagues with great benefit to our worldview. Inflationary theory of the Big Bang has its origins in the theories put forward by Peter Higgs about the sought-after Higgs particle. It is most likely that particle physicists will find dark matter, if indeed it exists in particle form. The symbiotic relationship between particle physicists and cosmologists is yielding a most active research domain nowadays.Otherwise, I find Nagel’s excellent analysis a very valuable admonition to all physicists that they keep in mind the unity of physics and not be distracted by petty interdisciplinary arguments.© 2003 American Institute of Physics.

Models and the Unity of Classical Physics: Nancy Cartwright's Dappled World

In this paper, I examine the claim that any physical theory will have an extremely limited domain of application because 1) we have to use distinct theories to model different situations in the world and 2) no theory has enough textbook models to handle anything beyond a highly simplified situation. Against the first claim, I show that many examples used to bolster it are actually instances of application of the very same classical theory rather than disjoint theories. Thus, there is a hidden unity to the world of classical physics that is usually overlooked (by, for example, Nancy Cartwright who argues for the claims above). Against the second claim, I show that the practice of classical physics involves an enormous (infinite) number of models the use of which cannot be written off as merely ad hoc. Thus, although classical physics cannot, of course, model every situation in nature, it has a much larger domain than some would have us believe.

Mathematics and physics: mother and daughter or sisters?

The unity of mathematics and physics is emphasized in a paper previously presented, in part, in 1998 at a meeting of the French Mathematical Society, and at the Russian Academy of Sciences (seminar at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics and V L Ginzburg's seminar at the Physics Institute).

The analysis of particle tracks: A case for trust in the unity of physics

With a case study concerning the analysis of particle tracks, I want to show how modelling in physics is based on trust in unity. The paper deals with the calculations of particle tracks made around 1930 by Mott and Bethe, and with the way in which Bethe's calculations have been used for decades to measure the particle momentum from individual tracks. The measurement method relies on the assumption that classical mechanics and quantum theory of scattering can be combined consistently into a model of the passage of charged particles through matter which applies to individual tracks. The empirical adequacy of the model is demonstrated by independent tests. I shall argue that the analysis of particle tracks is a case for well-justified trust in a unity of physics which may well be hidden in actual model-building. The measurement method reveals the transcendental status of the idea of unity in physics, while the empirical adequacy of the underlying model indicates that the idea has indeed some counterpart in the contingent structure of the phenomena.

Unity in the Science of Physics

I hope that this special celebratory session will become an annual custom at our large conferences—to take time out to survey both the diversity and unity of physics in a common meeting that is undiluted by the multiplicity of parallel sessions that have become the hallmark of our gatherings. Our research endeavors span a wide spectrum of physics, but at the core of every effort is a common creed: to push to the frontiers our understanding of natural phenomena, by measurement and theoretical analysis. In this article, in addition to giving the retiring president's report, I want to address the idea of whether one can identify sources of unity in the science of physics. My remarks may complement those of one of my predecessors and colleagues, Robert R. Wilson, in his 1985 retiring presidential address, “The Sentiment of the Unity of Physics” (PHYSICS TODAY, July 1986, page 26).

Guest Comment: The unity and diversity of physics

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