Time Reversal in Classical Electromagnetism

Arntzenius, Frank; Greaves, H. R. G.

doi:10.1093/bjps/axp015

Cited by 60 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…' Greaves ([2010], p. 28) also poses the question 'How can there be such an intimate relationship between spatiotemporal symmetries (Lorentz invariance, parity reversal, time reversal) on the one hand, and charge conjugation, not obviously a spatiotemporal notion at all, on the other?' This is echoed in (Arntzenius [2011], p. 634), and (Arntzensius and Greaves [2009], p. 584). 24…”

Section: Greenberg On Relativity and Cpt Invariancementioning

confidence: 89%

“…It has been influential in both the physics and philosophy of physics literature, since it suggests a test for violations of Lorentz invariance via experiments that measure CPT violation (Kostelecky [2011]; Hagar [2009], p. 261). Moreover, in apparently linking Lorentz invariance with CPT invariance, it suggests the latter is somehow mysterious; in particular, some philosophers have wondered how the charge conjugation transformation C can arise from a purely spatiotemporal symmetry (Arntzenius [2011]; Greaves [2010]; Arntzenius and Greaves [2009]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Pragmatists and Purists on CPT Invariance in Relativistic Quantum Field Theories

Bain

2015

Recent Developments in the Philosophy of Science: EPSA13 Helsinki

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Philosophers of physics are split on whether foundational issues in relativistic quantum field theory (RQFT) should be framed within pragmatist approaches, which trade mathematical rigor for the ability to formulate non-trivial interacting models, or purist approaches, which trade the ability to formulate non-trivial interacting models for mathematical rigor. This essay addresses this debate by viewing it through the lens of the CPT theorem. I first consider two formulations of the CPT theorem, one purist and the other pragmatist, and extract from them a set of problems that clarifies the distinction between pragmatism and purity. I then apply this distinction to Greenberg's ([2002]) influential claim that the violation of CPT invariance in an interacting RQFT entails the violation of (restricted) Lorentz invariance. I show how this claim rests on an unsuccessful attempt to mediate between pragmatism and purity. I then evaluate another attempt at such mediation in the form of causal perturbation theory. This approach suggests that a focus on renormalized perturbation theory as a way of distinguishing pragmatists from purists may be misleading.

show abstract

Section: Greenberg On Relativity and Cpt Invariancementioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pragmatists and Purists on CPT Invariance in Relativistic Quantum Field Theories

Bain

2015

Recent Developments in the Philosophy of Science: EPSA13 Helsinki

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In mathematical terms, if ℎ is the unique history with ℎ( ) = , then the unique history ℎ ′ with ℎ ′ ( + Δ ) = is given by ℎ ′ ( + Δ ) = ℎ( ). Time reversal symmetry is a little harder to define (see Albert (2000, ch.1) for a careful but very accessible discussion; see also discussion by Arntzenius and Greaves (2009), Malament (2004), and Earman (2002) but roughly speaking, it requires that the dynamical system has qualitatively the same structure in the past as in the future. Normally this is imposed by stipulating some appropriate time reversal map of state space to itself, so that if ℎ is the history through some state , the history ℎ ′ through is given by ℎ ′ ( ) = ℎ(− ).…”

Section: Classical Mechanicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probability in Physics: Stochastic, Statistical, Quantum

Wilson¹

2014

Chance and Temporal Asymmetry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

I review the role of probability in contemporary physics and the origin of probabilistic time asymmetry, beginning with the pre-quantum case (both stochastic mechanics and classical statistical mechanics) but concentrating on quantum theory. I argue that quantum mechanics radically changes the pre-quantum situation and that the philosophical nature of objective probability in physics, and of probabilistic asymmetry in time, is dependent on the correct resolution of the quantum measurement problem.

show abstract

“…1), Earman (2002, Malament (2004) and Arntzenius and Greaves (2009) for an illuminating recent discussion of the time reversal operation only in the context of classical electromagnetic theory.…”

Section: The Relevance Of Time Reversal Invariancementioning

confidence: 99%

On A- and B-theoretic elements of branching spacetimes

Farr

2011

Synthese

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper assesses branching spacetime theories in light of metaphysical considerations concerning time. I present the A, B, and C series in terms of the temporal structure they impose on sets of events, and raise problems for two elements of extant branching spacetime theories-McCall's 'branch attrition', and the 'no backward branching' feature of Belnap's 'branching space-time'-in terms of their respective Aand B-theoretic nature. I argue that McCall's presentation of branch attrition can only be coherently formulated on a model with at least two temporal dimensions, and that this results in severing the link between branch attrition and the flow of time. I argue that 'no backward branching' prohibits Belnap's theory from capturing the modal content of indeterministic physical theories, and results in it ascribing to the world a time-asymmetric modal structure that lacks physical justification.

show abstract

Time Reversal in Classical Electromagnetism

Abstract: Richard Feynman has claimed that anti-particles are nothing but particles 'propagating backwards in time'; that time reversing a particle state always turns it into the corresponding anti-particle state.

Cited by 60 publications

References 4 publications

Pragmatists and Purists on CPT Invariance in Relativistic Quantum Field Theories

Pragmatists and Purists on CPT Invariance in Relativistic Quantum Field Theories

Probability in Physics: Stochastic, Statistical, Quantum

On A- and B-theoretic elements of branching spacetimes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About