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Beyond a Minimal Basis

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Interpreting Physics

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science ((BSPS,volume 289))

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Abstract

This chapter initiates a path beyond orthodoxy by analyzing the practices of physics, rather than idealized theories. It focuses on the roles of mathematics and symmetry principles in extending beyond the limits of Bohrian semantics. Quantum electrodynamics illustrates the interrelation of formal and informal inferences in interpreting correction terms to the Lamb shift and the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron and muon. These calculations show the necessity of including virtual processes in any account of the quantum realm. The standard model of particle physics relies on local gauge invariance and on symmetry principles as postulations not sanctione4d by orthodox quantum mechanics or algebraic quantum field theory. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the distinctive features of quantum systems: superposition, interference, distributed probability, and entanglement.

Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem

John Duns Scotus

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Healey (1989), Auyang (1995), and Kuhlmann et al. (2002) illustrate different ways of implementing such a program.

  2. 2.

    This is developed in Bitbol (1996). A summary account may be found in my ISIS review, MacKinnon (1998).

  3. 3.

    These two levels roughly correspond to Bitbol’s (chap. 5) distinction between ontology in a descending mode and ontology in an ascending mode.

  4. 4.

    The experimental search is described in Samios (1997). The changed relation between experimenters and theoreticians is discussed in Pickering (1984, p. 16), and Galison (1987).

  5. 5.

    A complete history of this development is given in Schweber (1994).

  6. 6.

    My account is chiefly based on the texts by Kaku (1993) and Weinberg (1995), the historical accounts given in Hoddeson et al. (1997) and Cao (1998, Part III), and on various articles. For philosophical appraisals of QFT see Auyang (1995), Teller (1995), Brown and Harré (1988), the symposia papers in Wayne (1996), and MacKinnon (2008).

  7. 7.

    My evaluation of this approach is chiefly based on Haag (1992), Redhead and Wagner (1998), Buchholz and Haag (1999), and Buchholz (2000). The axioms used are given in Redhead and Wagner, p. 1, and are analyzed in Haag (1992, Section II).

  8. 8.

    This appraisal stems from evaluations given by Wilczek (1999, 2000, 2002a, 2002b, 2004a, 2004b).

  9. 9.

    Feynman (1974) has a non-technical summary of these calculations. Feynman replaced electrons scattered off stationary protons by high-energy collisions between protons and electrons moving in opposite directions at relativistic velocities. In this framework the transverse movements of the proton are negligible and the momentum distribution of the backscattered electrons gives the distribution of the charged parts of the proton.

  10. 10.

    The historical development of renormalization is summarized in Cao, pp. 185–207. See ’t Hooft (1997) for the problems involved in developing a renormalized electroweak theory.

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  1. California State University East Bay, Manzanita Drive 2045, 94611, Oakland, USA

    Edward Mackinnon

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Mackinnon, E. (2012). Beyond a Minimal Basis. In: Interpreting Physics. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 289. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2369-6_6

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