Weekly Papers on Quantum Foundations (23)

上午9:43 | Arvind, S. Chaturvedi, N. Mukunda | quant-ph updates on arXiv.org

This paper analyzes the algebraic and physical properties of the spin and orbital angular momenta of light in the quantum mechanical framework. The consequences of the fact that these are not angular momenta in the quantum mechanical sense are worked out in mathematical detail. It turns out that the spin part of the angular momentum has continuous eigenvalues. Particular attention is given to the paraxial limit, and to the definition of Laguerre–Gaussian modes for photons as well as classical light fields taking full account of the polarization degree of freedom.

In the cited paper [White, T., Mutus, J., Dressel, J. et al., “Preserving entanglement during weak measurement demonstrated with a violation of the Bell-Leggett-Garg inequality”, npj Quantum Information 2, 15022 (2016), arXiv:1504.02707], experimental results were presented that clearly prove that the quantum entanglement between two qubits is preserved after weak enough measurements are performed on them. The theoretical interpretation of the reported results, however, requires further consideration.

上午9:43 | physics.hist-ph updates on arXiv.org

Authors: Ali Barzegar

QBism is one of the main candidates for an epistemic interpretation of quantum mechanics. According to QBism, the quantum state or the wavefunction represents the subjective degrees of belief of the agent assigning the state. But, although the quantum state is not part of the furniture of the world, quantum mechanics grasps the real via the Born rule which is a consistency condition for the probability assignments of the agent. In this paper, we evaluate the plausibility of recent criticism of QBism . We focus on the consequences of the subjective character of the quantum state, the issue of realism and the problem of the evolution of the quantum state in QBism. In particular, drawing upon Born’s notion of invariance as the mark of the real, it is argued that there is no essential difference between Einstein’s program of the real and QBists’ realism. Also, it will be argued that QBism can account for the unitary evolution of the quantum state.

上午9:43 | ScienceDirect Publication: Physics ReportsScienceDirect RSShttps://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/physics-reportsRSS for NodeTue, 23 Jul 2019 10:02:48 GMTCopyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reservedRapid solidification as non-ergodic phenomenonPublication date: 20 July 2019Source: Physics Reports, Volume 818Author(s): P.K. Galenko, D. JouAbstractRapid solidification is a relevant physical phenomenon in material sciences, whose theoretical analysis requires going beyond the limits of local equilibrium statistical physics and thermodynamics and, in particular, taking account of ergodicity breaking and of generalized formulation of thermodynamics. The ergodicity breaking is related to the time symmetry breaking and to the presence of some kinds of fluxes and gradient flows making that an average of microscopic variables along time is different than an average over some chosen statistical ensemble. In fast processes, this is due, for instance, to the fact that the system has no time enough to explore the who

Publication date: Available online 3 June 2020

Source: Physics Reports

Author(s): Julia Becker Tjus, Lukas Merten

上午9:43 | ScienceDirect Publication: Physics ReportsScienceDirect RSShttps://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/physics-reportsRSS for NodeTue, 23 Jul 2019 10:02:48 GMTCopyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reservedRapid solidification as non-ergodic phenomenonPublication date: 20 July 2019Source: Physics Reports, Volume 818Author(s): P.K. Galenko, D. JouAbstractRapid solidification is a relevant physical phenomenon in material sciences, whose theoretical analysis requires going beyond the limits of local equilibrium statistical physics and thermodynamics and, in particular, taking account of ergodicity breaking and of generalized formulation of thermodynamics. The ergodicity breaking is related to the time symmetry breaking and to the presence of some kinds of fluxes and gradient flows making that an average of microscopic variables along time is different than an average over some chosen statistical ensemble. In fast processes, this is due, for instance, to the fact that the system has no time enough to explore the who

Publication date: Available online 23 May 2020

Source: Physics Reports

Author(s): Nora Brambilla, Simon Eidelman, Christoph Hanhart, Alexey Nefediev, Cheng-Ping Shen, Christopher E. Thomas, Antonio Vairo, Chang-Zheng Yuan

上午9:43 | ScienceDirect Publication: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern PhysicsScienceDirect RSShttps://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/studies-in-history-and-philosophy-of-science-part-b-studies-in-history-and-philosophy-of-modern-physicsRSS for NodeWed, 24 Jul 2019 09:46:42 GMTCopyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reservedImprints of the underlying structure of physical theoriesPublication date: Available online 12 July 2019Source: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern PhysicsAuthor(s): Jorge ManeroAbstractIn the context of scientific realism, this paper intends to provide a formal and accurate description of the structural-based ontology posited by classical mechanics, quantum mechanics and special relativity, which is preserved across the empirical domains of these theories and explain their successful predictions. Along the lines of ontic structural realism, such a description is undertaken by

Publication date: Available online 4 June 2020

Source: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics

Author(s): Wayne C. Myrvold

上午9:43 | ScienceDirect Publication: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern PhysicsScienceDirect RSShttps://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/studies-in-history-and-philosophy-of-science-part-b-studies-in-history-and-philosophy-of-modern-physicsRSS for NodeWed, 24 Jul 2019 09:46:42 GMTCopyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reservedImprints of the underlying structure of physical theoriesPublication date: Available online 12 July 2019Source: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern PhysicsAuthor(s): Jorge ManeroAbstractIn the context of scientific realism, this paper intends to provide a formal and accurate description of the structural-based ontology posited by classical mechanics, quantum mechanics and special relativity, which is preserved across the empirical domains of these theories and explain their successful predictions. Along the lines of ontic structural realism, such a description is undertaken by

Publication date: Available online 1 June 2020

Source: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics

Author(s): Rasmus Jaksland, Niels S. Linnemann

Authors: P. MeertR. da Rocha

The method of minimal geometric deformation (MGD) is used to derive static, strongly gravitating, spherically symmetric, compact stellar distributions. The trace and Weyl anomalies are then employed to probe the MGD in the holographic setup, as a realistic model, playing a prominent role in AdS/CFT.

Authors: Bernard CarrFlorian Kuhnel

Primordial black holes (PBHs) could provide the dark matter but a variety of constraints restrict the possible mass windows to $10^{16}$ – $10^{17}\,$g, $10^{20}$ – $10^{24}\,$g and $10$ – $10^{3}\,M_{\odot}$. The last possibility is contentious but of special interest in view of the recent detection of black-hole mergers by LIGO/Virgo. PBHs might have important consequences and resolve various cosmological conundra even if they have only a small fraction of the dark-matter density. In particular, those larger than $10^{3}\,M_{\odot}$ could generate cosmological structures through the `seed’ or `Poisson’ effect, thereby alleviating some problems associated with the standard cold dark matter scenario, and sufficiently large PBHs might provide seeds for the supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei. More exotically, the Planck-mass relics of PBH evaporations or stupendously large black holes bigger than $10^{12}\,M_{\odot}$ could provide an interesting dark component.

Authors: Alexandre ArbeyJérémy Auffinger

Concordant evidence points towards the existence of a ninth planet in the Solar System at more than $400\,$AU from the Sun. In particular, trans-Neptunian object orbits are perturbed by the presence of a putative gravitational source. Since this planet has not yet been observationally found with conventional telescope research, it has been argued that it could be a dark compact object, namely a black hole of probably primordial origin. Within this assumption, we discuss the possibility of detecting Planet 9 via a sub-relativistic spacecraft fly-by and the measure of its Hawking radiation in the radio band. We also present some perspectives related to the study of such a Hawking radiation laboratory in the Solar System.

2020年6月5日 星期五 下午12:45 | Philsci-Archive: No conditions. Results ordered -Date Deposited.
Stergiou, Chrysovalantis (2020) Are Metaphysical Claims Testable? [Preprint]
2020年6月5日 星期五 下午12:41 | Philsci-Archive: No conditions. Results ordered -Date Deposited.
Curiel, Erik (2020) Schematizing the Observer and the Epistemic Content of Theories. [Preprint]
2020年6月5日 星期五 下午12:40 | Philsci-Archive: No conditions. Results ordered -Date Deposited.
Evans, Peter W. and Thebault, Karim P Y (2020) On the Limits of Experimental Knowledge. [Preprint]
2020年6月5日 星期五 上午8:00 | Latest Results for Synthese

Abstract

Recent philosophical work has explored the distinction between causal and non-causal forms of explanation. In this literature, topological explanation is viewed as a clear example of the non-causal variety–it is claimed that topology lacks temporal information, which is necessary for causal structure (Pincock in Mathematics and scientic representation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012; Huneman in Synthese 177:213–245, 2010). This paper explores the distinction between topological and causal forms of explanation and argues that this distinction is not as clear cut as the literature suggests. One reason for this is that some explanations involve both topological and causal information. In these “borderline” cases scientists explain some outcome by appealing to the causal topology of the system of interest. These cases help clarify a type of topological explanation that is genuinely causal, but that differs from standard topological and interventionist accounts of explanation (Woodward in Making things happen, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003).

Abstract

Confabulation is typically understood to be dysfunctional. But this understanding neglects the phenomenon’s potential benefits. In fact, we think that the benefits of non-clinical confabulation provide a better foundation for a general account of confabulation. In this paper, we start from these benefits to develop a social teleological account of confabulation. Central to our account is the idea that confabulation manifests a kind of willful ignorance. By understanding confabulation in this way, we can provide principled explanations for the difference between clinical and non-clinical cases of confabulation and the extent to which confabulation is rational.

2020年6月4日 星期四 下午1:34 | Philsci-Archive: No conditions. Results ordered -Date Deposited.
Miller, Michael (2020) Worldly Imprecision. [Preprint]
2020年6月4日 星期四 下午1:25 | Philsci-Archive: No conditions. Results ordered -Date Deposited.
Canturk, Bilal (2020) A conceptual frame for giving physical content to the uncertainty principle and the quantum state. [Preprint]
2020年6月4日 星期四 上午8:00 | Latest Results for Synthese

Abstract

Abstraction principles and grounding can be combined in a natural way (Rosen in Hale B, Hoffmann A (eds) Modality: metaphysics, logic, and epistemology, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 109–136, 2010; Schwartzkopff in Grazer philosophische studien 82(1):353–373, 2011). However, some ground-theoretic abstraction principles entail that there are circles of partial ground (Donaldson in Noûs 51(4):775–801, 2017). I call this problem auto-abstraction. In this paper I sketch a solution. Sections 1 and 2 are introductory. In Sect. 3 I start comparing different solutions to the problem. In Sect. 4 I contend that the thesis that the right-hand side of an abstraction principle is (metaphysically) prior to its left-hand side motivates an independence constraint, and that this constraint leads to predicative restrictions on the acceptable instances of ground-theoretic abstraction principles. In Sect. 5 I argue that auto-abstraction is acceptable unless the left-hand side is essentially grounded by the right-hand side. In Sect. 6 I highlight several parallelisms between auto-abstraction and the puzzles of ground. I finally compare my solution with the strategies listed in Sect. 3.

2020年6月3日 星期三 下午2:22 | Philsci-Archive: No conditions. Results ordered -Date Deposited.
De Haro, Sebastian (2020) Science and Philosophy: A Love-Hate Relationship. Foundations of Science, 25. pp. 297-314. ISSN 1233-1821
2020年6月3日 星期三 上午8:00 | Latest Results for Synthese

Abstract

In Richard Bradley’s book, Decision Theory with a Human Face (2017), we have selected two themes for discussion. The first is the Bolker-Jeffrey (BJ) theory of decision, which the book uses throughout as a tool to reorganize the whole field of decision theory, and in particular to evaluate the extent to which expected utility (EU) theories may be normatively too demanding. The second theme is the redefinition strategy that can be used to defend EU theories against the Allais and Ellsberg paradoxes, a strategy that the book by and large endorses, and even develops in an original way concerning the Ellsberg paradox. We argue that the BJ theory is too specific to fulfil Bradley’s foundational project and that the redefinition strategy fails in both the Allais and Ellsberg cases. Although we share Bradley’s conclusion that EU theories do not state universal rationality requirements, we reach it not by a comparison with BJ theory, but by a comparison with the non-EU theories that the paradoxes have heuristically suggested.

2020年6月3日 星期三 上午8:00 | Latest Results for Synthese

Abstract

Proofs from assumptions are amongst the most fundamental reasoning techniques. Yet the precise nature of assumptions is still an open topic. One of the most prominent conceptions is the placeholder view of assumptions generally associated with natural deduction for intuitionistic propositional logic. It views assumptions essentially as holes in proofs, either to be filled with closed proofs of the corresponding propositions via substitution or withdrawn as a side effect of some rule, thus in effect making them an auxiliary notion subservient to proper propositions. The Curry–Howard correspondence is typically viewed as a formal counterpart of this conception. I will argue against this position and show that even though the Curry–Howard correspondence typically accommodates the placeholder view of assumptions, it is rather a matter of choice, not a necessity, and that another more assumption-friendly view can be adopted.

2020年6月2日 星期二 下午3:00 | Philsci-Archive: No conditions. Results ordered -Date Deposited.
Schroeren, David (2020) Symmetry Fundamentalism: A Case Study from Classical Physics. [Preprint]
2020年6月2日 星期二 上午8:00 | Latest Results for Synthese

Abstract

Humeanism started life as a metaphysical program that could turn out to be false if our best physical theories were to postulate ontological features at odds with Humean ones. However, even if this has arguably already happened, Humeanism is still considered one of the strongest and most appealing metaphysical theories for describing the physical world. What is even more surprising is that a radical Humean thesis—Super-Humeanism—which posits an extremely parsimonious ontology including nothing more than propertyless matter points and their distance relations, is said by its proponents to follow from an attentive reading of our best physical theories. Given its close relationship with physics, Super-Humeans argue that their doctrine (i) conforms to Scientific Realism, (ii) offers the ontology that best explains physics’ empirical evidence, and (iii) is a naturalistic theory. This paper investigates the strategies that Super-Humeans have adopted to defend these three claims and, more generally, its alleged closeness to physics. I will show that, contrary to what advocates of Super-Humeanism claim, some of its commitments have inevitably created a gap between itself and physics that is difficult to overcome. While it is laudable that Super-Humeans have adopted various strategies to close this gap, no strategy has yet fully succeeded.

2020年6月1日 星期一 下午2:34 | Philsci-Archive: No conditions. Results ordered -Date Deposited.
Christian, Joy (2020) Oversights in the Respective Theorems of von Neumann and Bell are Homologous. [Preprint]
2020年6月1日 星期一 上午8:00 | R. Thomale | Nature Physics – Issue – nature.com science feeds

Nature Physics, Published online: 01 June 2020; doi:10.1038/s41567-020-0922-9

Boundary-localized bulk eigenstates given by the non-Hermitian skin effect are observed in a non-reciprocal topological circuit. A fundamental revision of the bulk–boundary correspondence in an open system is required to understand the underlying physics.

2020年6月1日 星期一 上午8:00 | Brian Swingle | Nature Physics – Issue – nature.com science feeds

Nature Physics, Published online: 01 June 2020; doi:10.1038/s41567-020-0909-6

Braneworld cosmologies describe our universe as a four-dimensional membrane embedded in a bulk five-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime. In a possible holographic realization, observers on the brane experience cosmology, and gravity is localized.

2020年6月1日 星期一 上午8:00 | Aleksi Vuorinen | Nature Physics – Issue – nature.com science feeds

Nature Physics, Published online: 01 June 2020; doi:10.1038/s41567-020-0914-9

The cores of neutron stars could be made of hadronic matter or quark matter. By combining first-principles calculations with observational data, evidence for the presence of quark matter in neutron star cores is found.

2020年6月1日 星期一 上午8:00 | Vladan Vuletić | Nature Physics – Issue – nature.com science feeds

Nature Physics, Published online: 01 June 2020; doi:10.1038/s41567-020-0917-6

Repulsive photons in a quantum nonlinear medium

2020年6月1日 星期一 上午8:00 | Latest Results for Synthese

Abstract

Despite the large interest in the human ability to perceive space present in neuroscience, cognitive science and psychology, as well as philosophy of mind, the issues regarding egocentric space representation received relatively less attention. In this paper I take up a unique phenomenon related to this faculty: the “spatial purport” of perceptual experiences. The notion was proposed by Rick Grush to describe the subjective, qualitative aspects of egocentric representations of spatial properties and relations. Although Grush offered an explanation of the mechanism giving rise to appearance of spatial purport, his model had considerable shortcomings. In the paper I thoroughly analyze both the notion of spatial purport and Grush’s explanation of the mechanism at its core in order to develop his theory using the insights provided by the predictive processing theory of mind, and more particularly by the active inference framework. The extended account I offer, named Predictive and Hierarchical Skill Theory, explains phenomena that escaped Grush’s model and furthers the research on egocentric space representation from the perspective of both neuroscience and philosophy of mind.

2020年6月1日 星期一 上午8:00 | Latest Results for Foundations of Physics

Abstract

Contemporary debate over laws of nature centers around Humean supervenience, the thesis that everything supervenes on the distribution of non-nomic facts. The key ingredient of this thesis is the idea that nomic-like concepts—law, chance, causation, etc.—are expressible in terms of the regularities of non-nomic facts. Inherent to this idea is the tacit conviction that regularities, “constant conjunctions” of non-nomic facts do supervene on the distribution of non-nomic facts. This paper raises a challenge for this conviction. It will be pointed out that the notion of regularity, understood as statistical correlation, has a necessary conceptual component not clearly identified before—I shall call this the “conjunctive relation” of the correlated events. On the other hand, it will be argued that there exists no unambiguous, non-circular way in which this relation could be determined. In this regard, the notion of correlation is similar to that of distant simultaneity where the necessary conceptual component is the one-way speed of light, whose value doesn’t seem to be determined by matters of (non-nomic) facts.

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