Old and New Questions in Physics, Cosmology, Philosophy, and Theoretical Biology: Essays in Honor of Wolfgang Yourgrau

ISBN-13: 9781468488326 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 920 str.

Alwyn Van Der Merwe

Opis

Simply to say that this is a collection of essays in honor of the late Wolfgang Yourgrau (1908-1979) is to explain, at least for-the obviously many-"insiders," the unusually wide-ranging title of the present volume. In a Foreword to the Proceedings of the First International Colloquium (focusing on logic, physical reality, and history), held at the University of Denver in May of 1966 under their leadership, Wolfgang Y ourgrau and Allen Breck wrote, in an oblique reference to C. P. Snow: "Indeed there are not two or three or four cultures: there is only one culture; our generation has lost its awareness of this . . . . Historians, logicians, physicists-all are banded in one common enterprise, namely in their des ire to weave an enlightened fabric of human knowledge. " Augment, if you will, the foregoing categories of scholars with biologists, philos- ophers, cosmologists, and theologians-all of whom, in addition to historians, Wolf- gang Yourgrau, by dint of his inextinguishable enthusiasm and charismatic qualities, assembled in Denver for the Second and Third International Colloquia (in 1967 and 1974, respectively)-and a few other besides, and one arrives at a statement of the credo wh ich Y ourgrau not only professed, but consistently exemplified throughout his adult life.

Spis treści

A: Current Problems in Physics and Cosmology.- 1 • On The Connections Between PICO- and Mega-Cosmos (According To The Unification and Geometrization Suggested by Einstein, Eddington, and Schrödinger.- 2 • The Zitterbewegung and The Einstein A Coefficient of Spontaneous Emission.- 3 • Supersymmetry Groups.- 4 • Relativistic Phase Space Arising out of the Dirac Algebra.- 5 • Why Mourn the Passing of Determinacy.- 6 • On The True Ideas Underlying Wave Mechanics.- 7 • CPT Invariance as Basic for Interpreting Quantum Mechanics.- 8 • The Hilbert Space Axiom in Quantum Mechanics.- 9 • The Cyclotron-Soliton Model of Terrestrial Kilometric Radiation.- 10 • Clumpy Irregular Galaxies: A Progress Report.- 11 • The Aporias of Cosmology and The Attempts at Overcoming Them by Nonstandard Models.- 12 • On Relativistic Quantum Theory.- 13 • Vacuum Tunneling in Static Space-Times.- 14 • On The Extensions of General Relativity.- 15 • Status and Perspectives of Cosmology.- 16 • The Connection Between The Objective Description of Macrosystems and Quantum Mechanics of “ Many Particles”.- 17 • The Current Theory of Strong interactions and The Problem of Quark Confinement.- 18 • Statistical Inference by Minimal Bures Distances.- 19 • The Knots of Quantum Thermodynamics.- 20 • About The Facts of Cosmological Significance.- 21 • Stochastic Interpretation of Relativistic Quantum Equations.- 22 • New Quantum Mechanics.- 23 • On Nonlinear Classical Dirac Fields and Quantum Physics.- 24 • Elementary Particles as Microuniverses.- 25 • Precision Mathematics and Approximation Mathematics in Physics.- 26 • Electroweak interaction in Polarized Electron-Positron and Electron-Electron Scattering.- 27 • Infinity and the Natural World.- 28 • Induced Superfluorescence and the Nature of the Wave- Particle Duality.- 29 • Breakdown of Predictability: an Investigation into the Nature of Singularities.- 30 • Wave Functions in One-Dimensional Disordered Systems with Long-Range Hopping.- 31 • Perception of Quantum Systems.- 32 • Stochastic Electrodynamics: an Overview.- 33 • On The Increase of Entropy in The Carleman Model II.- 34 • The Klein Paradox Revisited.- 35 • Einstein Nonlocality, Space-Time Structure, and Thermodyanics.- B. Issues in Biology, Philosophy, and the History of Science.- 1 • Biology and Physics: Reflections on Reductionism.- 2 • The Age of Analysis Reassessed.- 3 • Transphyletic Animal Similarities and Predictive Toxicology.- 4 • The Wronging of Wright.- 5 • On The Historical Development of the IndisTinguishability Concept for Microparticles.- 6 • Philosophical Semantics.- 7 • Social Exemplifications of Physical Principles.- 8 • Seneca’s Ethics Viewed From A Modern Standpoint.- 9 • Physics and Philosophy.- 10 • Einstein, Spinoza, and God.- 11 • The Satellites of Jupiter, From Galileo to Bradley.- 12 • Emergent Properties.- 13 • The Theory of Relativity and Our World View.- 14 • Science Beyond Science.- 15 • God as Cosmic Guest-Worker.- 16 • A Model of Reality as Mind.- 17 • A Matter of Chance.- 18 • On The Nature and Origin of Life.- 19 • Science, History, Philosophy, and World Views.- 20 • Queries About Inquiries.- 21 • The Nature of The Physical World.- 22 • Early Attempts at A Unitary Understanding of Nature.- Name Index.