Transcript Gestalting Structures in Physics

Gestalting Structures in Physics
Tuomo Suntola
Basic questions for human conception
The scope of physical theories
From antique metaphysics to empirical sciences
The picture of reality, the empiricists’ puzzle
Concluding remarks
Gestalting Structures in Physics
Basic questions for human conception: What? – Where? – When?
The SI base quantities: mass, length, time (units: kilogram, meter, second)
In search for a deeper understanding we may ask:
Why does anything exist? Where is the universe coming from?
How does nature function?
What determines the structures in material world?
Gestalting Structures in Physics
Aristotle (384–322 BC):
”ALL men by nature desire to know.”
“… and the most exact of the sciences are those which deal most with first principles; for
those which involve fewer principles are more exact than those which involve additional
principles …”
The second statement is generally known as Occams’s razor:
“A principle urging one to select from among competing hypotheses
that which makes the fewest assumptions.”
William of Ockham ( c. 1288 – 1348)
Outlining of the historical development in Physics
Search for the laws of nature and understanding of space, matter, and motion
150
100
50
-1000
-500
0
BC 0 AD
500
1000
1500
2000
Outlining of the historical development in Physics
Search for the laws of nature and understanding of space, matter, and motion
150
Einstein
Planck
-1000
Faraday
Laplace
Newton
Kepler
Galilei
Copernicus
50
Aristotle
Leucippus
Heraclitus
Anaximander
Thales
Ptolemy
-500
0
BC 0 AD
Bohr
Maxwell
100
500
1000
1500
Poincaré
Helmholtz
Hamilton
Dalton
Leibniz
2000
Antique
inheritance
holism,
complementarity,
process philosophy
Heraclitus
535–475
Logos
Heraclides
390–310,
Ekfantos,
Hiketas
“rotating
earth”
Anaxagoras
500–428
Nous
Search for the laws
of nature and
understanding of
space, matter, and
motion
Pythagoras
582–496
”numbers,
geometry,
harmonics”
Anaximenes
585–528
”air primary
substance”
Philolaus Eudoxus
410–350
470–385
“central ”planet model”
fire”
Seleucus
190–150
”studies on
Aristarchus
model”
Aristarchus
310–230
“heliocentric
universe”
Plato
423–348
heliocentric
astronomy
Copernicus,
Kepler,
Newton
Space
Erastothenes
276–194
”earth
dimensions”
Apollonius
262–190
”ellipse,
epicycles”
Empedocles
492–432
“elements”
Principles
Hipparchus
190–120
”scientific
astronomy”
Earth-centered
astronomy
Ptolemy
90–168
”epicycle
model”
Euclid
350–280
”conics,
optics”
Motion
mathematics
Anaximander
610–546
Apeiron
Archimedes
287–212
”machines,
primary
integral
calculus”
Erastothenes
Aristotle
276–194
384–322
“geography, earth “metaphysics,
dimensions”
physics”
physics
Galilei,
Descartes,
Leibniz,
Newton
Mathematics
Matter
Thales
625–546
”arche, first
cause”, ”water,
primary
substance”
600
Leucippus (400s),
Democritus
460–370
”atomic theory”
500
400
atomic theories
materialism,
reductionism
Epicurus
341–270
”empiricism”
300
200
100 BC 0 AD 100
200
Gestalting skies and space
Sun
N
Moon
Earth
Daytime before noon in
the summer
S
Anaximander’s Earth centered universe.
Gestalting skies and space
N
Sun
Moon
Earth
S
Daytime before noon in the winter
Anaximander’s Earth centered universe.
Gestalting skies and space
N
Moon
S
Sun
Nighttime in the winter
Anaximander’s Earth centered universe.
Gestalting skies and space
N
Moon
Sun
Nighttime in the summer
S
Anaximander’s Earth centered universe.
Gestalting skies and space
500’s BC
Ptolemy’s epicyclic system (100’s AD)
N
Moon
Sun
Nighttime in the summer
S
Anaximander’s universe was constructed of a flat Earth
surrounded by the sphere of fixed stars. The wheels for
the Moon and the Sun were behind the sphere of stars.
Planetary orbits in the Earth centered
system
The
Copernican –
Newtonian
revolution
1601
1665
Pierre de Fermat
1500
1623
1662
1600
1700
Blaise
Pascal
1629
1596
1650
1695
Christiaan
Huygens
Aristotelian mechanics
René
Descartes
The dawn of
mathematical
physics
1646
1716
Gottfried
Leibniz
1564
1473
1642
Calculus
1543
Galileo Galilei
Nicholaus
Copernicus
1616
1703
John Wallis
1642
Ptolemy heavens,
antique ideas of motion and
the heliocentric alternative
1571
1632
Tycho Brahe
1723
Christopher Wren
1595
1635
Thomas Diggens
1561
Newtonian
mechanics
1656
1742
Edmond Halley
1601
1546
1727
Isaac Newton
1630
Johannes
Kepler
1546
Conservation
of energy
1703
Robert Hooke
1626
Francis Bacon
1627
1691
Robert Boyle
Empiricism
Gestalting of celestial mechanics
Copernicus:
Kepler:
Newton:
OUTLINING
MATHEMETICAL
DESCRIPTION
MODELING
Elliptic orbits
The equations
of motion
Heliocentric
system
OBSERVATIONS
PRIMARY
PRINCIPLES OF
NATURE
OBSERVATIONS
Known
and
new
Simplicity,
symmetry,
spherical
forms
Tycho Brahe’s
precise
observations
PRIMARY
PRINCIPLES
OF NATURE
QUANTITIES IN
MECHANICS
TESTING
Simplicity,
mathematical
beauty
Force, inertia,
momentum
Observations
versus
predictions
Gestalting skies and space
Earth
Sun
The first Chapter of Kopernicus’ De Revolutionibus, is titled
“The Universe is Spherical”:
“First of all, we must note that the universe is spherical. The reason
is either that, of all forms, the sphere is the most perfect, ... or that
wholes strive to be circumscribed by this boundary ...
Thomas Digges’s (1546–1595) view
of the Copernican system. Fixed
stars are spread to unlimited space.
Gestalting space
FLRW cosmology
1916 - 1940
150
Einstein
Planck
Einstein: General relativity
Maxwell
100
Aristarchus: “The Greek Copernicus”
Laplace: Refinement of
celestial mechanics
50
Philolaus, “Central fire”
Newton: Mathematical
solution for Kepler’s orbits
Ptolemy
.
Thales
-1000
Anaximander’s skies
around the flat Earth
-500
0
BC 0 AD
Kepler: Elliptic orbits,
Kepler’s laws
500
1000
Aristotle: Eudoxus’s
system
Eudoxus, planetary
spheres around
spherical Earth
1500
2000 Galilei: Force and acceleration,
observations with telescope
Brahe: Precise measurement
of planetary orbits
Copernicus:
Heliocentric system
Path to
special
relativity
Woldemar
Voigt
1850–1919
Voigt’s
transformation
1887
Heinrich Hertz
1857–1894
demonstration of
electromagnetic waves
1877
James Maxwell
1831–1879
Maxwell’s
equations
1864
Jules Henri
Poincaré
1854–1912
Albert Michelson
1852–1931
M–M experiment
1889
Hendrik
Lorentz
1858–1947
Special theory
of relativity
George FitzGerald
1853–1928
length contraction
George
Stoney
1826–1911
unit charge,
electron
positivism
1860
Joseph Larmor
1857–1942
coordinate
transformations
1897
1870
1880
Albert
Einstein
1879–1955
Ernst Mach
1838–1916
Relative
distance
and time
1890
Joseph
Thomson
1856–1940
Walter
electron, Kaufmann
electro1871–1947
magnetic increase of
mass
mass in
motion
1900
Spacetime
interpretation
Hermann
Minkowski
1864–1909
1910
Path to
FLRWcosmology
from
general
relativity
Herman
Minkowski
spacetime
1908
Ernst Mach,
Mach’s
principle
Alexander
Friedman
Friedmann’s
model
1919
Einstein’s
4-sphere
1917
Edwin Hubble
galaxy
observations,
redshift
Georges
1922-1929
Lemaître
expanding Hubble law
1929
space
1925
Albert Einstein
General relativity
1916
Willem de Sitter
GR metrics
1915–1934
Albert Einstein
Special relativity
1905
Karl Schwarzschild
Solution of field
equations
1916
Richard
Tolman
magnitude
versus
redshift
1930
Howard Robertson,
Arthur Walker:
Refining of the
Friedmann’s model
tarkennus
Max Planck
Planck’s
equation 1900
Immanuel Kant 1724–1804
Solar system and Milky Way
condensations of nebulae
FLRW-cosmology
Henry Cavendish
1731–1810
Determination of
the gravitational
constant
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
Gestalting skies and space
Gestalting modern cosmology is challenging
Space: FLRW – cosmology (Friedman, Lemaître, Robertson, Walker)
Ω0>1
Ω0<1
Ω0=1
Outlining of spacetime geometry in FLRW – cosmology.
The antiquity question of infinite/finite space is unanswered by the FLRW cosmology.
Gestalting matter
Quantum mechanics: Material structures
described in terms of wave functions
Leucippus, Democritus: “Both matter
and void have real existence. The constituents
of matter are elements infinite in number and
always in motion, with an infinite variety of
shapes, completely solid in composition”
Heraclitus, “Everything is a
part of the same whole” or
“everything has its share of
wholeness”.
-1000
Faraday
Laplace
Newton
Kepler
Galilei
Copernicus
50
-500
Anaximander:
Apeiron is an abstract endless,
unlimited principle and primary
substance for all material
expressions.
Boltzmann: Statistical mechanics,
kinetic theory of gases: strong support
to atomic theory
Maxwell
Ptolemy
Thales
Bohr’s atomic model (1913)
Einstein
Planck
0
BC 0 AD
500
1000
1500
Aristotle opposed atomism and
infinite apeiron; supported
Empedocles’s system.
Empedocles, the system
of four elements.
Dalton: Atomic and molecular hypothesis
concluded from the ratios of elements in
chemical reactions (1808)
Leibniz described the elementary parts of
matter as monads – “perpetual living mirrors
of the universe”
2000
hot
FIRE
dry
AIR
EARTH
wet
cold
WATER
Gestalting of motion
Einstein’s special relativity (1905):
Newton’s laws modified by redefinition of
time and distance.
150
Galilei:
- acceleration in free fall is independent of
the weight of the falling object
- no external “movent”
- rectilinear motion ~ the state of rest
- the principle of relativity
Einstein
Planck
Maxwell
Lagrange, Hamilton : equations of
motion in generalized coordinates
Laplace
Newton
50
Ptolemy
Thales
-1000
-500
0
BC 0 AD
500
1000
Aristotle:
- natural motion (free fall): the velocity is proportional to the weight of
the object and inversely proportional to the resistance of the medium,
- forced motion (horizontal motion) requires an external movent
Laplace: refinement of celestial mechanics,
potential theory
Newton: The 2. law of motion F= m∙a,
the 3. law of motion, balance of opposite
forces → equivalence principle
Copernicus
Leucippus
Heraclitus
Poincaré: “Everything can be seen as
interplay of kinetic energy potential energy”
1500
2000
Leibniz:
- Living force (kinetic energy), vis viva is
obtained against release of dead force
(potential energy) (vis mortua)
- the amount of all living force in space is
equal to the dead force released
Gestalting of motion
150
Galilei:
- acceleration in free fall is independent of
the weight of the falling object
- no external “movent”
- rectilinear motion ~ the state of rest
- the principle of relativity
Einstein
Planck
Maxwell
Laplace
Newton
50
Ptolemy
Copernicus
Leucippus
Heraclitus
Thales
-1000
-500
0
BC 0 AD
John Philoponus: Motion is
maintained by the energy,
impetus, given to the object
by the mover
500
1000
1500
Jean Buridan: Impetus and
the concept of momentum
2000
Leibniz:
- Living force (kinetic energy), vis viva is
obtained against release of dead force
(potential energy) (vis mortua)
- the amount of all living force in space is
equal to the dead force released
Outlining of the historical development in Physics
Search for the laws of nature and understanding of space, matter, and motion
150
Empiricism
Einstein
Planck
-1000
Faraday
Laplace
Newton
Kepler
Galilei
Copernicus
50
Aristotle
Leucippus
Heraclitus
Anaximander
Thales
Ptolemy
Philoponus
-500
0
BC 0 AD
Metaphysical
principles
Bohr
Maxwell
100
500
Poincaré
Helmholtz
Hamilton
Dalton
Leibniz
Buridan
1000
1500
2000
The empiricists’ puzzle
FLRW cosmology
Quantum mechanics
- Planck’s equation
- wave function
- Schrödinger equation
- uncertainty principle
- wave–particle duality
- Dirac’s equations
Classical mechanics
- Newton’s laws of motion
- Newton’s gravitation
- absolute time
- force a base quantity
- mass a measure of inertia
- Galilei relativity
General relativity
Electromagnetism
Maxwell’s equations
- Electromagnetic interactions
- Electromagnetic waves
- conservation of charge
- General relativity: gravitation
by spacetime metric
- Cosmological principle
- Reciprocity principle
- Planck’s equation
- Hubble flow
- Dark matter, dark energy
- Inflation hypothesis
- Gravitation waves
Special relativity
- equivalence principle
- curved spacetime
- relativity principle
- proper time, proper distance
- constant velocity of light
- mass manifestation of energy
- relativistic mass
The empiricists’ puzzle
Essence of the wave function?
Gestalting curved spacetime ?
FLRW cosmology
How to apply Occam’s razor ?
Quantum mechanics
- Planck’s equation
- wave function
- Schrödinger equation
- uncertainty principle
- wave–particle duality
- Dirac’s equations
Classical mechanics
- Newton’s laws of motion
- Newton’s gravitation
- absolute time
- force a base quantity
- mass a measure of inertia
- Galilei relativity
General relativity
Electromagnetism
Maxwell’s equations
- Electromagnetic interactions
- Electromagnetic waves
- conservation of charge
- General relativity: gravitation
by spacetime metric
- Cosmological principle
- Reciprocity principle
- Planck’s equation
- Hubble flow
- Dark matter, dark energy
- Inflation hypothesis
- Gravitation waves
Special relativity
- equivalence principle
- curved spacetime
- relativity principle
- proper time, proper distance
- constant velocity of light
- mass manifestation of energy
- relativistic mass
Gestalting relative time and distance ?
Books available at cafeteria (Tiedekahvila)
Tieteen lyhyt historia
- vai pitkä tie
luonnonfilosofian ja
empirismin
kohtaamiseen
2012
The Short History of
Science
The Dynamic Universe
- or the long path to the
union of metaphysics
and empiricism
2012
Toward a unified picture of
physical reality
www.physicsfoundations.org
2011