Length Matters: The History and the Philosophy of the Notion of a Fundamental Length in Modern Physics

长度很重要：现代物理学中基本长度概念的历史和哲学

• 批准号: 0951179
• 负责人: Amit Hagar
• 金额: $ 22.17万
• 依托单位: Indiana University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-07-01 至 2013-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0951179&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Length; Matters; History; Philosophy; Notion

This project will develop a history of the notion a fundamental length in modern physics and it will explore the philosophical problems associated with that notion. The eventual aim is to produce an extended monograph. Currently, there is no comprehensive study of this notion. The proposed study will consider the diverse scientific and philosophical motivations for introducing this notion into modern physical theories this notion, including epistemic grounds for a finite spatial resolution or ontological grounds for spatial discreteness. The discussion will focus on the instantiations of this notion in the 20th century, and it will characterize and then analyze its philosophical and the phenomenological consequences of this notion, which are currently at the center of heated debates in the high energy physics community in struggling to unify the theories of relativity with quantum mechanics. The PI has already published two chapter-length journal articles on the subject, and aims to produce six more chapters for the monograph in a period of three years. These chapters will discus the history of the idea of fundamental length, the rationale for introducing it into modern theoretical physics, and both the methodological and philosophical problems this notion generates (particularly within quantum field theory and quantum gravity). The project offers an outlook on the notion of fundamental length that spans two different research programs, namely the unification of quantum theory with each of the two theories of relativity. Based on written and oral sources, it builds on earlier historical studies of the notion of fundamental length in quantum field theory. It will draw methodological conclusions from the (partly-documented) historical episode, and applying them to the current attempts to construct quantum theories of gravity that introduce finite resolution or spatial discreteness. By combining the methodological analysis with an analysis of the philosophical issues that surround the notion of fundamental length, the project will bring to light some of the most pressing methodological problems in modern theoretical physics, first and foremost of which is the attempt to distinguish itself from pure mathematics at a time when empirical tests in the regimes it purports to describe are almost nonexistent.

该项目将在现代物理学中发展一个概念的历史，它将探讨与该概念相关的哲学问题。最终的目的是生产扩展的专着。目前，尚无对这一概念的全面研究。拟议的研究将考虑将这种概念引入现代物理理论的多种科学和哲学动机，包括用于有限的空间解决方案或空间离散性的认识论理由。讨论将侧重于20世纪这个概念的实例，它将表征然后分析其哲学和这种概念的现象学后果，该概念目前是高能物理学界的热辩论的中心，以努力努力将相对论统一与量子力学的理论统一。 PI已经发表了有关该主题的两篇长度期刊文章，并旨在在三年内为专着生产六章。这些章节将讨论基本长度的概念的历史，将其引入现代理论物理学的基本原理，以及该概念产生的方法论和哲学问题（尤其是在量子场理论和量子引力中）。该项目对基本长度的概念进行了展望，该概念涵盖了两个不同的研究计划，即量子理论与相对论的两种理论的统一。基于书面和口头来源，它建立在量子场理论中基本长度概念的早期历史研究的基础上。它将从（部分记录的）历史情节中得出方法论上的结论，并将其应用于当前构建引入有限分辨率或空间离散性的重力理论的尝试。 通过将方法论分析与对基本长度概念概念的哲学问题的分析相结合，该项目将揭示现代理论物理学中一些最紧迫的方法论问题，这首先是最重要的是试图将自己与纯粹的数学与纯数学区分开来，而在某些情况下进行了纯粹的数学测试，几乎是不可描述的。