What are the thinking processes and knowledge resources involved in a complex discovery? How can the physics of solids, the physics of nuclei, and elementary particle physics cross-fertilise in spite of the widely differing domains and energy scales they deal with? This book addresses the questions by reconstructing and examining from the historical epistemological perspective the fascinating heuristic path to the concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking. This analysis especially brings to light the role that analogical reasoning and mathematical reformulations played in the discovery process, as well as the influence of the Japanese milieu and approach to physical problems.
Author(s): Rocco Gaudenzi
Series: SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 138
City: Cham
Preface
Contents
1 Introduction and a Few Words on the Methodology
References
2 Traits of an Emerging Tradition: Modern Physics in Japan
2.1 Tomonaga's Approach to the Open Questions of Particle Physics
2.1.1 At Heisenberg's and the Renewed Interest in Nuclear Meson Hypothesis
2.1.2 A Creative Application of the Hartree Method
2.1.3 The Tomonaga-Nishina Seminars and the Development of Quantum Field Theory
2.1.4 The Elementary Particle in the Aftermath of Renormalisation
2.2 The Collective Description of Many-body Systems
2.2.1 A Change of Paradigm in the Description of Nuclei and Plasmas
2.2.2 Bohm and the Many-body Problem in Plasmas and Metals: Inspirations from Quantum Electrodynamics
References
3 Yoichiro Nambu and the Collective Description of Many-particle Systems
3.1 Lehrjahre and Inclinations of the Young Nambu
3.1.1 Nambu's Nuclear Program and the Root of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking
3.2 The Concept of Apparent Vacuum: Extending Field Theory to Real Media
3.2.1 Nuclear Matter as a ``di-mesic'' Medium
3.2.2 Nuclear Matter as a Plasma Medium
References
4 Elementary Particles as Excitations of a Solid Medium. Is the Universe a Superconductor?
4.1 Constructing Superconductivity
4.1.1 Superconductivity Is Most of All Perfect Diamagnetism, or the Consequences of a Perspective Shift
4.1.2 On a Search for the Microscopic Mechanism
4.1.3 Bardeen, Pines, Cooper, Schrieffer, or the Resolution
4.1.4 Bogolyubov's ``New Method'', or the Reformulation of Superconductivity
4.1.5 Discovering by Way of Translating: Nambu and the ``Mathematical Structure'' of Superconductivity
4.2 The Universe as a Superconducting Solid
4.2.1 Cultivating Parallel Problems: Nambu's Stereoscopic View
4.2.2 The Vacuum of the Universe Through the Lens of Superconductivity
4.2.3 From Flash to Flesh: The Theory of Elementary Particles Suggested by Superconductivity
4.2.4 Epilogue. The Impact of Nambu's Vision and the Offshoots of the Analogy
References
5 Historical and Epistemological Reflections
5.1 Individual and Collective, Micro and Macro Meet …
5.1.1 Few to Many: Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking and the Evolution of the Ideas of Particle and Vacuum
5.1.2 The Heuristic Virtues of a ``Scale'' Model of the Universe
5.2 Methodologies and Worldviews on the Japanese Shores
5.2.1 The Influence of Tomonaga and the Local Socio-Economic Context of Japan
5.2.2 On Yukawa and Sakata's World-view and Its Sway
References
