The physics of condensed matter, in contrast to quantum physics or cosmology, is not traditionally associated with deep philosophical questions. However, as science - largely thanks to more powerful computers - becomes capable of analysing and modelling ever more complex many-body systems, basic questions of philosophical relevance arise. Questions about the emergence of structure, the nature of cooperative behaviour, the implications of the second law, the quantum-classical transition and many other issues. This book is a collection of essays by leading physicists and philosophers. Each investigates one or more of these issues, making use of examples from modern condensed matter research. Physicists and philosophers alike will find surprising and stimulating ideas in these pages.
Author(s): Brigitte Falkenburg, Margaret Morrison (eds.)
Series: The Frontiers Collection
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Year: 2015
Language: English
Pages: 280
Tags: Condensed Matter Physics; Philosophy of Science; History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics; Statistical Physics, Dynamical Systems and Complexity
Front Matter....Pages i-x
Introduction....Pages 1-10
Front Matter....Pages 11-11
On the Success and Limitations of Reductionism in Physics....Pages 13-39
On the Relation Between the Second Law of Thermodynamics and Classical and Quantum Mechanics....Pages 41-54
Dissipation in Quantum Mechanical Systems: Where Is the System and Where Is the Reservoir?....Pages 55-67
Explanation Via Micro-reduction: On the Role of Scale Separation for Quantitative Modelling....Pages 69-87
Front Matter....Pages 89-89
Why Is More Different?....Pages 91-114
Autonomy and Scales....Pages 115-135
More is Different…Sometimes: Ising Models, Emergence, and Undecidability....Pages 137-152
Neither Weak, Nor Strong? Emergence and Functional Reduction....Pages 153-166
Front Matter....Pages 167-167
Stability, Emergence and Part-Whole Reduction....Pages 169-200
Between Rigor and Reality: Many-Body Models in Condensed Matter Physics....Pages 201-226
How Do Quasi-Particles Exist?....Pages 227-250
A Mechanistic Reading of Quantum Laser Theory....Pages 251-271
Back Matter....Pages 273-280
