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preprint2024arXiv

Cosmological Inflation and Meta-Empirical Theory Assessment

I apply Dawid's Meta-Empirical Assessment (MEA) methodology to the theory of cosmological inflation. I argue that applying this methodology does not currently offer a compelling case for ascribing non-empirical confirmation to cosmological inflation. In particular, I argue that despite displaying strong instances of Unexpected Explanatory Coherence (UEA), it is premature to evaluate the theory on the basis of the No Alternatives Argument (NAA). More significantly though, I argue that the theory of cosmological inflation fails to sustain a convincing Meta-Inductive Argument (MIA) because the empirical evidence and theoretical successes that it seeks to draw meta-empirical support from do not warrant a meta-inductive inference to inflation. I conclude by assessing how future developments could pave the way towards crafting a more compelling case for the non-empirical confirmation of cosmological inflation.

preprint2021arXiv

Joshua's Total Solar Eclipse at Gibeon

We reanalyse the solar eclipse linked to the Biblical passage about the military leader Joshua who ordered the sun to halt in the midst of the day (Joshua 10:12). Although there is agreement that the basic story is rooted in a real event, the date is subject to different opinions. We review the historical emergence of the text and confirm that the total eclipse of the sun of 30 September 1131 BCE is the most likely candidate. The Besselian Elements for this eclipse are re-computed. The error for the deceleration parameter of Earth's rotation, $ΔT$, is improved by a factor of 2.

preprint2024arXiv

The Virtues of Pursuit-Worthy Speculation: The Promises of Cosmic Inflation

The paper investigates the historical and contemporary pursuit-worthiness of cosmic inflation-the rationale for working on it (rather than necessarily the evidential support for claims to its approximate truth): what reasons existed, and exist, that warrant inflation's status as the mainstream paradigm studied, explored, and further developed by the majority of the cosmology community? We'll show that inflation exemplifies various salient theory virtues: explanatory depth, unifying/integrative power, fertility and positive heuristics, the promotion of understanding, and the prospect (and passing) of novel benchmark tests. This, we'll argue, constitutes inflation's auspicious promise. It marks inflation as preferable over both the inflation-less Hot Big Bang Model, as well as rivals to inflation: inflation, we maintain, rightly deserved, and continues to deserve, the concerted research efforts it has enjoyed.

preprint2025arXiv

A short technical comment on Bub's There is No Quantum World (arXiv:2512.18400v2) and a brief remark on related Grangier's reply (arXiv:2512.22965v1)

This note is a friendly technical check of Jeffrey Bub's There is No Quantum World (arXiv:2512.18400v2). I flag one unambiguous mathematical slip (a cardinality identity that implicitly assumes the Continuum Hypothesis) and then point out a few places where the discussion of infinite tensor products, ``sectorization,'' and measurement updates would benefit from sharper wording. Nothing here is meant as a critique of Bub's interpretive goals; the aim is simply to separate what is mathematically forced from what depends on choices of algebra, representation, or philosophical stance. I end with a short remark on Philippe Grangier's reply (arXiv:2512.22965v1).

preprint2024arXiv

Reysa Bernson, the unconventional head of the first French planetarium

The first modern planetarium was presented in 1923 in Jena, Germany. Very soon in the subsequent years, planetariums were installed in other parts of Europe as well as in America. France, however, got its first planetarium only in 1937, for the World Exhibition organized in Paris. The team that took care of that planetarium was headed by a female amateur astronomer named Reysa Bernson. This choice might seem surprising, but it was not made at random, thanks to her never-ending astronomical activities at that time. This paper aims to bring back memories of this very active amateur astronomer of the 1920s and 1930s, and show the many ways in which astronomy was disseminated a century ago.

preprint2014arXiv

A Primer on Energy Conditions

An energy condition, in the context of a wide class of spacetime theories (including general relativity), is, crudely speaking, a relation one demands the stress-energy tensor of matter satisfy in order to try to capture the idea that "energy should be positive". The remarkable fact I will discuss in this paper is that such simple, general, almost trivial seeming propositions have profound and far-reaching import for our understanding of the structure of relativistic spacetimes. It is therefore especially surprising when one also learns that we have no clear understanding of the nature of these conditions, what theoretical status they have with respect to fundamental physics, what epistemic status they may have, when we should and should not expect them to be satisfied, and even in many cases how they and their consequences should be interpreted physically. Or so I shall argue, by a detailed analysis of the technical and conceptual character of all the standard conditions used in physics today, including examination of their consequences and the circumstances in which they are believed to be violated.

preprint2011arXiv

Domenico Pacini, uncredited pioneer of the discovery of cosmic rays

During a series of experiments performed between 1907 and 1911, Domenico Pacini (Marino 1878-Roma 1934), at that time researcher at the Central Bureau of Meteorology and Geodynamics in Roma, studied the origin of the radiation today called "cosmic rays", the nature of which was unknown at that time. In his conclusive measurements in June 1911 at the Naval Academy in Livorno, and confirmed in Bracciano a couple of months later, Pacini, proposing a novel experimental technique, observed the radiation strength to decrease when going from the surface to a few meters underwater (both in the sea and in the lake), thus demonstrating that such radiation could not come from the Earth's crust. Pacini's work was largely overlooked. Hess was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1936, two years after the death of Pacini, who had become a full professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Bari. The discovery of cosmic rays -a milestone in science- involved several scientists in Europe and in the United States of America and took place during a period characterized by nationalism and lack of communication. Historical, political and personal facts, embedded in the pre- and post-World War I context, might have contributed to the substantial disappearance of Pacini from the history of science. This article aims to give an unbiased historical account of the discovery of cosmic rays; in the centenary of Pacini's pioneering experiments, his work, which employed a technique that was complementary to, and independent of that of Hess, will be duly taken into consideration. A translation into English of three fundamental early articles by Pacini is provided in the Appendix.

preprint2025arXiv

Notes on Crowther and the "Interpretation" of Quantum Mechanics (arXiv:2512.14315)

We read Karen Crowther's \emph{Another 100 Years of Quantum Interpretation?} with two practical goals. First, we spell out what she means by interpretation'': an attempt to provide understanding (not just predictions), which may be representationalist or non-representationalist, and which she contrasts with deeper \emph{reductive} (inter-theoretic) explanation -- especially in the quantum-gravity setting. Second, we list twelve points where the paper's physics-facing wording could be sharpened. In our view, several claims are directionally well-motivated but stated more strongly than the underlying physics supports, or they run together distinct notions (e.g.\ degrees of freedom,'' singularity,'' and different senses of locality'') that need careful separation. We end by suggesting that the philosophical question is genuinely worthwhile, but the physics should be phrased more cautiously so that heuristic motivation is not mistaken for strict implication.

preprint2022arXiv

Russell on Weyl's unified field theory

In 1918, H. Weyl proposed a unified theory of gravity and electromagnetism based on a generalization of Riemannian geometry. With hindsight we now could say that the theory carried with it some of the most original ideas that inspired the physics of the twentieth century. In a book published in 1927, Bertrand Russell devoted an entire chapter to explain and give a critical appraisal of Weyl's theory. We briefly revisit the text written by Russell, who gave one of the first philosophical approaches to Weyl's ideas.

preprint2023arXiv

The original Gibbs paradox is the consequence of the erroneous identification of non-identical functions

This article presents the results of research into the causes of the Gibbs paradox in the formulation discussed by J. W. Gibbs himself. In this formulation, we are talking about an inexplicable (paradoxical) jump in the entropy of mixing of two ideal gases during the transition from mixing different to mixing identical gases. It is shown that the entropy of mixing of different ideal gases and the entropy of mixing of identical ideal gases are different (non-identical) functions of the same gas parameters. That, called a paradoxical jump in the entropy of mixing, is not a jump in the value of some function, but is the difference in the values of various functions, on condition that the variables and parameters on which these functions depend remain constant. Those who were looking for an explanation of the original Gibbs paradox did not notice this and tried to solve an unsolvable falsely posed problem: to find a parameter that change during the transition from different to identical gases caused the difference in the values of non-identical functions.

preprint2024arXiv

Quantum mechanics without quantum potentials

The issue of non-locality in quantum mechanics can potentially be resolved by considering relativistically covariant diffusion in four-dimensional spacetime. Stochastic particles described by the Klein-Gordon equation are shown to undergo a classical diffusion process in spacetime coordinates, which is seen by transforming the quantum Cauchy-momentum equations to a Lagrangian frame of reference. Since the quantum potential term is removed under this transformation, the equations for momentum propagation along particle trajectories assume a classical form. A local stochastic de Broglie-Bohm interpretation for the Klein-Gordon system can subsequently be derived. We also introduce the concept of momentum equivariance to replace the second-order Bohm-Newton equations of motion, which break down due to non-linear terms of the stochastic Lagrangian derivative.

preprint2024arXiv

A dynamic programming interpretation of quantum mechanics

We introduce a transformation of the quantum phase $S'=S+\frac{\hbar}{2}\logρ$, which converts the deterministic equations of quantum mechanics into the Lagrangian reference frame of stochastic particles. We show that the quantum potential can be removed from the transformed quantum Hamilton-Jacobi equations if they are solved as stochastic Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equations. The system of equations provide a local description of quantum mechanics, which is enabled by the inherently retrocausal nature of stochastic Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equations. We also investigate the stochastic transformation of the classical system, where is it shown that quantum mechanics with the quantum potential reduced by a factor of $\frac{1}{2}$ has a classical representation, which may have interesting implications. Finally, we discuss the notion of a subsystem correspondence principle, which constrains the ontology of the total quantum system.

preprint2024arXiv

Maxwell's Current in Mitochondria and Nerve

Maxwell defined a true or total current in a way not widely used today. He said "... true electric current ... is not the same thing as the current of conduction but that the time-variation of the electric displacement must be taken into account in estimating the total movement of electricity". We show that true or total current is a universal property of electrodynamics independent of properties of matter. We use mathematics without a dielectric constant. The resulting Maxwell Current Law is a generalization of the Kirchhoff Law of Current used in circuit analysis, that also includes displacement current. The generalization is not a long-time low frequency approximation in contrast to traditional presentation of Kirchhoff's Law. The Maxwell Current Law does not require currents to be in circuits. It has been applied to three dimensional systems like the signaling system of nerve and muscle fibers. The Maxwell Current Law clarifies the flow of electrons, protons, and ions in mitochondria that generate ATP, the molecule that stores chemical energy throughout life. The currents are globally coupled because mitochondria are short. Focusing on Maxwell current reinterprets the classical chemiosmotic hypothesis of ATP production. The conduction current of protons in mitochondria is driven by the protonmotive force including its component electrical potential, just as in the classical chemiosmotic hypothesis. The electrical potential is now the electrical potential as defined in physical sciences by Maxwell partial differential equations. The conduction current is now just a part of the true current analyzed by Maxwell. Details of accumulation of charges do not have to be considered in analysis of true current because true current does not accumulate. It is true total current that provides the energy that generates the ATP, not just the protonmotive force.

preprint2023arXiv

Principle Interference in Technical and Scientific Translation

In this article, I will explore the nature of interference in translation, especially in technical and scientific texts, using a descriptivist approach. I will have a brief overview of the historical excursion of interference in technical and scientific translation. My aim is to explain this phenomenon and its causes with all its paradoxes, instead of simply condemning it as an example of supposedly bad translation. Thus, I will focus on its status in the bibliography of translation, on the motives for and consequences of interference in specialized translation, as well as on the nature of the arguments given for and against this phenomenon. Therefore the relationship between different societies has always been possible with the act of translation. When civilizations are examined throughout history, it is seen that the dissemination of knowledge among different societies has been achieved by translation. These societies have often become aware of the advancements in technology and science by means of translation. Therefore; translation becomes very significant in technical contact between societies and humans. Since the translation of technical texts is the preliminary scope of this thesis, it will be beneficial to have a brief look at the history of technical translation in the world.

preprint2022arXiv

Tensorial Group Field Theory condensate cosmology as an example of spacetime emergence in quantum gravity

We summarize the main ideas behind TGFT condensate cosmology and sketch the technical steps that bring from the fundamental theory to the effective cosmological dynamics. This framework is presented as an explicit illustration of (and possibly a general template for) the emergence of spacetime from non-spatiotemporal quantum entities in quantum gravity, and the many aspects involved in it.

preprint2023arXiv

The Hamiltonian for Entangled States Cannot Be Additive

The assumption that the system Hamiltonian for entangled states is additive is widely used in orthodox quantum no-signalling arguments. It is shown that additivity implies a contradiction with the assumption that the system being studied is entangled.

preprint2023arXiv

Unification of the MWI formalism and Bohmian mechanics for the ensembles of event universes in Minkowski-like space

Diversity of interpretations of quantum mechanics is often considered as a sign of foundational crisis. In this note we proceed towards unification the relational quantum mechanics of Rovelli, Bohmian mechanics, and many worlds interpretation on the basis so called Dendrogramic Holographic Theory (DHT). DHT is based on the representation of observed events by dendrograms (finite trees) presenting observers subjective image of universe. Dendrograms encode the relational hierarchy between events, in applications they are generated by clustering algorithms; an algorithm with the branching index p >1 generate p-adic trees. The infinite p-adic tree represents the ontic event universe. We consider an ensemble of observers performing observations on each other and representing them by p-adic trees. In such observers universe we introduce a kind of Minkowski space structure, which is statistical by its nature. This model unites the observer/system discrepancy. Measurements are performed by observers on observers. Such observers universe is dynamically changing and is background independent since the space itself is emergent. And within this model, we unify the aforementioned interpretations.

preprint2023arXiv

Is Bohr's Correspondence Principle just Hankel's Principle of Permanence?

No, but the paper argues that Bohr understood his correspondence principle, or at least an aspect of that principle expressed by the notion of rational generalization, as grounded in Hankel's principle of permanence, adapted to new historical and theoretical contexts. This is shown to illuminate some otherwise obscure aspects of Bohr's approach to quantum theory, as well as a seemingly strange criticism against this approach, due to Feyerabend and Bohm.

preprint2023arXiv

Understanding and Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics

Taking Heisenberg's and Schrodinger's theories of quantum mechanics as his case study, De Regt's contextual theory of understanding argues that recognizing qualitatively characteristic consequences of a theory T without performing exact calculations is a criterion for scientific understanding. From the perspective of this theory of understanding, the task of understanding quantum mechanics seems to have been achieved already or even finished. This appears to disagree with some physicists' attitude to the understanding of quantum mechanics in line with Richard Feynman's famous slogan "I think I can safely say that nobody really understands quantum mechanics." Moreover, if the task of understanding quantum mechanics has been finished already, there would be a conflict between the contextual theory of understanding of quantum mechanics and interpretations of quantum mechanics.

preprint2010arXiv

General relativity, differential geometry, and unitary theories in the work of Mira Fernandes

An analysis of the work of Mira Fernandes on unitary theories is presented.

preprint2014arXiv

Physics at the University of Lviv: the first two centuries in the bibliographic aspect

A detailed bibliography related to physics at the University of Lviv (Leopolis, Lemberg, Lwów) in 18th-19th centuries is presented. Over ninety works of various types are listed with a large share being illustrated by title or starting pages. Brief biographical accounts of the authors are given to put their works in the context of the University history.

preprint2023arXiv

Celebrating the birth of De Donder's chemical affinity (1922-2022): from the uncompensated heat to his Ave Maria

Théophile De Donder, a Belgian mathematician born in Brussels, elaborated two important ideas that created a bridge between thermodynamics and chemical kinetics. He invented the concept of the degree of advancement of a reaction, and, in 1922, he provided a precise mathematical form to the already known chemical affinity by translating Clausius's uncompensated heat into formal language. These concepts merge in an important inequality that was the starting point for the formalization of out-of-equilibrium thermodynamics. The present article aims to reconstruct how De Donder elaborated his ideas and how he developed them by exploring his teaching activity and its connection with his scientific production. Furthermore, it emphasizes the role played by the discussions with his disciples who became his collaborators. The paper analyzes De Donder's efforts in participating in the second Solvay Chemistry Council in 1925 to call the attention of the international community of chemists. Even if his mathematical approach did not receive much attention at the time, his work on chemical affinity was the basis for the birth of the so-called Brussels school of thermodynamics.

preprint2023arXiv

Resurfaced 1964 VRT video interview of Georges Lemaître

On December 31 2022, the Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT), the national public-service broadcaster for the Flemish Community of Belgium, recovered a video recording of a 1964 interview of Georges Lemaître. Up until now, that footage was thought to have been lost. This footage represents a unique insight into the views of the physicist often coined as the "father of the Big Bang". The interview was conducted in French and is available online with Flemish subtitles. In an effort to make this treasure broadly available, we provide in this paper some brief context, an English translation of the interview as well as the French transcript for reference.

preprint2022arXiv

Completing the quantum ontology with the electromagnetic zero-point field

This text begins with a series of critical considerations on the initial interpretation of quantum phenomena observed in atomic systems. The bewildering explanations advanced during the construction of quantum mechanics are shown to have distanced the new theory from the rest of scientific knowledge, by introducing indeterminism, acausality, nonlocality, and even subjectivism as part of its interpretative framework. The conclusion drawn from this unsatisfactory interpretative landscape is that quantum mechanics lacks a key ontological ingredient. Arguments are given in favour of the random zero-point radiation field (ZPF) as the element needed to complete the quantum ontology. The (wave-mediated) quantum stochastic process is shown to be essentially different from Brownian motion, and more amenable to an analogy with the hydrodynamic case. The new perspective provided by the introduction of the ZPF is used to explain some salient features of quantum systems, such as the stationary atomic states and the transitions between them, and the apparent nonlocality expressed in the entangled states. Notably, the permanent presence of the field drastically affects the dynamics of the (otherwise classical) particle, which eventually falls under the control of the field. This qualitative change is reflected in the transition from the initial classical description in space-time, to the final quantum one in the Hilbert space. The clarification of the mechanism of quantization leads us to consider the possibility that a similar phenomenon occurs in other physical systems of corpuscles subjected to an oscillating background, of which the walking-droplet system is a paradigmatic example.