History and Philosophy of Physics
Authors and titles for recent submissions
[ total of 14 entries: 1-14 ][ showing up to 25 entries per page: fewer | more ]
Thu, 31 May 2012
- [1] arXiv:1205.6501 [pdf, ps, other]
- Notes on the page proof and publication of "Schallausbreitung in teilweise dissoziierten Gasen" by A. EinsteinComments: 2 pages; unpublished note from 2005Subjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)Notes on the page proof and publication of "Schallausbreitung in teilweise dissoziierten Gasen" by A. Einstein
J. L. van Velsen
(Submitted on 29 May 2012)
Recently, the page-proof, with corrections, of Einstein's 1920 publication on the "Propagation of Sound in Partly Dissociated Gases" was discovered in Leiden. The last two pages of the proof are crossed out and replaced by a sheet in Einstein's handwriting. In these notes, I briefly address the following two questions: A) Concerning the page proof, what is the difference between the contents of the crossed-out pages and the new page? B) Concerning the publication, are Eqs. (18,21,22) correct?
Comments: 2 pages; unpublished note from 2005
Subjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:1205.6501v1 [physics.hist-ph] - [2] arXiv:1205.6679 (cross-list from astro-ph.SR) [pdf, ps, other]
- The solar differential rotation in the 18th centuryComments: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted for Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubjects: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability (physics.data-an); History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)The solar differential rotation in the 18th century
R. Arlt, H.-E. Froehlich
(Submitted on 30 May 2012)
The sunspot drawings of Johann Staudacher of 1749--1799 were used to determine the solar differential rotation in that period. These drawings of the full disk lack any indication of their orientation. We used a Bayesian estimator to obtain the position angles of the drawings, the corresponding heliographic spot positions, a time offset between the drawings and the differential rotation parameter \delta\Omega, assuming the equatorial rotation period is the same as today. The drawings are grouped in pairs, and the resulting marginal distributions for \delta\Omega were multiplied. We obtain \delta\Omega=-0.048 \pm 0.025 d^-1 (-2.75^o/d) for the entire period. There is no significant difference to the value of the present Sun. We find an (insignificant) indication for a change of \delta\Omega throughout the observing period from strong differential rotation, \delta\Omega\approx -0.07 d^-1, to weaker differential rotation, \delta\Omega\approx-0.04 d^-1.
Comments: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted for Astronomy and Astrophysics
Subjects: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability (physics.data-an); History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:1205.6679v1 [astro-ph.SR]
Tue, 29 May 2012
- [3] arXiv:1205.5966 [pdf]
- The Einstein-Nordström TheoryComments: Final paper among my 20 papers pertaining to Einstein's pathway to Special and General Relativity. The papers are a product of 2 years work and my work at the Center for Einstein Studies in Boston UniversitySubjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)The Einstein-Nordström Theory
Galina Weinstein
(Submitted on 27 May 2012)
The Finnish physicist Gunnar Nordstr\"om developed a competing theory of gravitation to Einstein's 1912-1913 gravitation theory. The equivalence principle was valid in his theory and it also satisfied red shift of the spectral lines from the sun. However, it was unable to supply the Perihelion of Mercury, such as Einstein's theory; it led to a Perihelion like the one predicted by Newton's law, and, it could not explain the deflection of light near the sun, because in Nordstr\"om's theory the velocity of light was constant. Einstein's 1913-1914 theory, the field equations of which were not generally covariant, remained without empirical support. Thus a decision in favor of one or the other theory - Einstein's or Nordstr\"om's - was impossible on empirical grounds. Einstein began to study Nordstr\"om's theory from the theoretical point of view and he developed his own Einstein-Nordstr\"om theory on the basis of his conception of the natural interval. Eventually, in a joint 1914 paper with Lorentz's student Adrian Fokker, Einstein showed that a generally covariant formalism is presented from which Nordstr\"om's theory follows if a single assumption is made that it is possible to choose preferred systems of reference in such a way that the velocity of light is constant; and this was done after Einstein had failed to develop a generally covariant formulation for his own theory.
Comments: Final paper among my 20 papers pertaining to Einstein's pathway to Special and General Relativity. The papers are a product of 2 years work and my work at the Center for Einstein Studies in Boston University
Subjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:1205.5966v1 [physics.hist-ph] - [4] arXiv:1205.5951 [pdf]
- Variation of Mass with Velocity: "Kugeltheorie" or "Relativtheorie"Subjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)Variation of Mass with Velocity: "Kugeltheorie" or "Relativtheorie"
Galina Weinstein
(Submitted on 27 May 2012)
This paper deals with four topics: The first subject is Abraham's spherical electron, Lorentz's contracted electron and B\"ucherer's electron. The second topic is Einstein's 1905 relativity theory of the motion of an electron. Einstein obtained expressions for the longitudinal and transverse masses of the electron using the principle of relativity and that of the constancy of the velocity of light. The third topic is Einstein's reply to Ehrenfest's query. Einstein's above solution appeared to Ehrenfest very similar to Lorentz's one: a deformed electron. Einstein commented on Ehrenfest's paper and characterized his work as a theory of principle and reasoned that beyond kinematics, the 1905 heuristic relativity principle could offer new connections between non-kinematical concepts. The final topic is Kaufmann's experiments. Kaufmann concluded that his measuring procedures were not compatible with the hypothesis posited by Lorentz and Einstein. However, unlike Ehrenfest, he gave the first clear account of the basic theoretical difference between Lorentz's and Einstein's views. Finally, B\"ucherer conducted experiments that confirmed Lorentz's and Einstein's models; Max Born analyzed the problem of a rigid body and showed the existence of a limited class of rigid motions, and concluded, "The main result was a confirmation of Lorentz's formula".
Subjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:1205.5951v1 [physics.hist-ph] - [5] arXiv:1205.6129 (cross-list from physics.gen-ph) [pdf]
- The Missing Memristor: Novel Nanotechnology or rather new Case Study for the Philosophy and Sociology of Science?Comments: 26 pages, 2 figuresSubjects: General Physics (physics.gen-ph); History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)The Missing Memristor: Novel Nanotechnology or rather new Case Study for the Philosophy and Sociology of Science?
Sascha Vongehr
(Submitted on 1 Mar 2012)
In 2008, it was widely announced that the missing memristor, a basic two-terminal electrical circuit element, had finally been discovered. The memristor is the fourth and last such circuit element and thus completes circuit theory. Predicted already in 1971, the eventual discovery of something seemingly so basic needed almost 40 years. However, this discovery is doubted. The predicted memristor has no material memory and is based on magnetic flux, but the discovered devices constitute analogue memory storage that do not involve magnetism. The person who originally proposed the memristor did not reject the discovery but instead changed his mind about what a memristor is. We briefly introduce the history and then carefully memristance and the memristor as such. We discuss its status as a model rather than a device. We discuss the discovered devices, their stability, and how stability relates to the consistency of the theoretical entities. A thought experiment assumes a world without magnetism. Inductors cannot exist there, but memory resistors could still be constructed. On the same grounds as the memristor was historically predicted, an "inductor" could then be predicted. Likely, somebody would also 'discover' one. A tentative sociological analysis compares to the flawed detection of gravitational waves but comes to very different conclusions.
Comments: 26 pages, 2 figures
Subjects: General Physics (physics.gen-ph); History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:1205.6129v1 [physics.gen-ph] - [6] arXiv:1205.5823 (cross-list from cs.GL) [pdf, ps, other]
- Foreword: A Computable Universe, Understanding Computation and Exploring Nature As ComputationComments: 26 pages, foreword to the book A Computable Universe: Understanding Computation and Exploring Nature As Computation, World Scientific, 2012 this http URLSubjects: General Literature (cs.GL); Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI); Computational Complexity (cs.CC); Information Theory (cs.IT); History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph); Popular Physics (physics.pop-ph)Foreword: A Computable Universe, Understanding Computation and Exploring Nature As Computation
Roger Penrose
(Submitted on 25 May 2012)
I am most honoured to have the privilege to present the Foreword to this fascinating and wonderfully varied collection of contributions, concerning the nature of computation and of its deep connection with the operation of those basic laws, known or yet unknown, governing the universe in which we live. Fundamentally deep questions are indeed being grappled with here, and the fact that we find so many different viewpoints is something to be expected, since, in truth, we know little about the foundational nature and origins of these basic laws, despite the immense precision that we so often find revealed in them. Accordingly, it is not surprising that within the viewpoints expressed here is some unabashed speculation, occasionally bordering on just partially justified guesswork, while elsewhere we find a good deal of precise reasoning, some in the form of rigorous mathematical theorems. Both of these are as should be, for without some inspired guesswork we cannot have new ideas as to where look in order to make genuinely new progress, and without precise mathematical reasoning, no less than in precise observation, we cannot know when we are right -- or, more usually, when we are wrong.
Comments: 26 pages, foreword to the book A Computable Universe: Understanding Computation and Exploring Nature As Computation, World Scientific, 2012 this http URL
Subjects: General Literature (cs.GL); Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI); Computational Complexity (cs.CC); Information Theory (cs.IT); History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph); Popular Physics (physics.pop-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:1205.5823v1 [cs.GL]
Fri, 25 May 2012
- [7] arXiv:1205.5539 [pdf]
- Biographies of Albert Einstein -- Mastermind of Theoretical PhysicsSubjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
Wed, 23 May 2012
- [8] arXiv:1205.4916 [pdf, ps, other]
- On the Physical Problem of Spatial Dimensions: An Alternative Procedure to Stability ArgumentsComments: 23 pagesSubjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph); Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph)
- [9] arXiv:1205.4909 [pdf]
- Geometry and Astronomy: Pre-Einstein Speculations of Non-Euclidean SpaceComments: 69 pages; 3 figuresSubjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
Tue, 22 May 2012
- [10] arXiv:1205.4663 [pdf]
- Beyond Galileo: A translation of Giovanni Battista Riccioli's experiments regarding falling bodies and "air drag", as reported in his 1651 Almagestum NovumSubjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
- [11] arXiv:1205.4509 [pdf]
- Albert Einstein: Rebellious WunderkindSubjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
- [12] arXiv:1205.4335 [pdf]
- Albert Einstein at the Zürich Polytechnic: a rare mastery of Maxwell's electromagnetic theorySubjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
- [13] arXiv:1205.4278 [pdf]
- Albert Einstein and Scientific TheologyComments: 9pp; slight overlap with arXiv:1205.2896v1; see endnotes for comments and equations; (Revised 23 May, format corrections)Subjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph); Physics Education (physics.ed-ph)
- [14] arXiv:1205.4451 (cross-list from quant-ph) [pdf, other]
- Nonlocality at detection and conservation of energy. Was Einstein looking for an "epistemic" interpretation, a "superdeterministic" one, or both?Comments: 4 pages, 2 figuresSubjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
History and Philosophy of Physics
Authors and titles for physics.hist-ph in Feb 2008
[ total of 6 entries: 1-6 ][ showing up to 25 entries per page: fewer | more ]
- [1] arXiv:0802.1095 [pdf]
- On the Accuracy of Galileo's ObservationsComments: Post-publication version with large figures, posted to arxiv with OK of Baltic AstronomyJournal-ref: Baltic Astonomy (2007), vol. 16, pg. 443Subjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
- [2] arXiv:0802.1366 [pdf, ps, other]
- Rise and fall of the old quantum theoryComments: 34 pages, 12 figuresSubjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph); Physics Education (physics.ed-ph)
- [3] arXiv:0802.2971 [pdf, ps, other]
- Myron Mathisson: what little we know of his lifeComments: 19 pp., 4 figsSubjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
- [4] arXiv:0802.3249 [pdf, ps, other]
- From Dual Models to String TheoryComments: A contribution to the volume "The Birth of String Theory"Subjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph); High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th); Quantum Algebra (math.QA)
- [5] arXiv:0802.4341 [pdf, ps, other]
- Concepts of Symmetry in the Work of Wolfgang PauliComments: 54 pages, 4 figuresSubjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph); General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc); High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
- [6] arXiv:0802.1416 (cross-list from q-fin.GN) [pdf]
- Econophysics: historical perspectivesComments: 7 pagesSubjects: General Finance (q-fin.GN); History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph); Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph)
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