An algebraic approach to physical fields.
According to the algebraic approach to spacetime, a thoroughgoing dynamicism, physical fields exist without an underlying manifold. This view is usually implemented by postulating an algebraic structure (e.g., commutative ring) of scalar-valued functions, which can be interpreted as representing a s...
| Publicado en: | Studies in History & Philosophy of Science Part A Vol. 89; pp. 188 - 202 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Elsevier B.V.
Oct2021
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=152847494&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 152847494 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00393681 HPS jtl: Studies in History & Philosophy of Science Part A issn: 00393681 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Oct2021 vid: 89 pid: 2410 pub: Elsevier B.V. artinfo: ui: 152847494 10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.08.011 ppf: 188 ppct: 14 formats: tig: atl: An algebraic approach to physical fields. aug: au: Chen, Lu Fritz, Tobias affil: Department of Philosophy, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey Department of Mathematics, University of Innsbruck, Austria su: Commutative rings Differential geometry Electrodynamics Spacetime Axioms Mean field theory sug: subj: Commutative rings Differential geometry Electrodynamics Spacetime Axioms Mean field theory keyword: Algebraicism Dynamicism Einstein algebras Field (physics) Natural operations Substantivalism ab: According to the algebraic approach to spacetime, a thoroughgoing dynamicism, physical fields exist without an underlying manifold. This view is usually implemented by postulating an algebraic structure (e.g., commutative ring) of scalar-valued functions, which can be interpreted as representing a scalar field, and deriving other structures from it. In this work, we point out that this leads to the unjustified primacy of an undetermined scalar field. Instead, we propose to consider algebraic structures in which all (and only) physical fields are primitive. We explain how the theory of natural operations in differential geometry—the modern formalism behind classifying diffeomorphism-invariant constructions—can be used to obtain concrete implementations of this idea for any given collection of fields. For concrete examples, we illustrate how our approach applies to a number of particular physical fields, including electrodynamics coupled to a Weyl spinor. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2021 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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