LAWS OF OBSERVATION, THE

Science is at a cross-roads. For several decades, the Standard Model of particle physics has managed to fit vast amounts of particle scattering data remarkably well, but many questions remain. During those decades, some sophisticated theoretical hypotheses such as string theory, quantum gravity, and quantum cosmology have been proposed and studied intensively, in an effort to break the log-jam of the Standard Model. None of those hypotheses have succeeded to date. Of greater concern is the increasing tendency by some practitioners in those fields to downplay the empirical principles of science.

In response, this book is a restatement of those principles, covering numerous aspects of observation. A particular focus is on contextuality versus realism, the two fundamentally contrasting ideologies that underpin modern physics.

Contents:

• Preface
• Foundation Principles:
  • Introduction
  • The History of Observation
  • Principles
  • Truth and Context
  • Metascience
  • Emergence and Complexity
  • Reductionism
  • Lagrangians
  • Observers
  • Systems under Observation
  • Endo versus Exo
  • Probability and Observation
  • Persistence
  • Mathematics and Modelling
  • Equivalence Classes
  • Evidence
  • Generalized Propositions
  • Commentary
• The Physics of Observation:
  • Physical Dimensions and Unit Systems
  • Design of Experiments
  • Laboratories and Frames of Reference
  • Cross-Sections
  • The Human Observer
  • The Architecture of Observation
  • The Scales of Observation
  • Thermodynamics and Observation
• Space and Time:
  • Space-time
  • The Homogeneous Relativities
  • General Relativity
  • The Speed of Light
  • Inertia
  • Cosmology and Observation
• Classical versus Quantum:
  • Causality and Radiation
  • Old Quantum Mechanics
  • The Copenhagen Interpretation
  • Contextual Incompleteness and Observation
• Conceptual Issues:
  • The Physics of Space
  • Information Voids
  • Modern Challenges
  • Ultima Dicta
  • Appendices
  • Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index

Readership: Undergraduates, graduates and research professionals in the field of Particle Physics or Quantum Physics.

Key Features:

• This book is unlike any other. Its fundamental purpose is to give a comprehensive argument in favour of empiricism over speculation, contextuality over realism, and evidence over hype in science