Springer Handbook of Spacetime

Springer Handbook of Spacetime
Author: Abhay Ashtekar
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 883
Release: 2014-09-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642419925

The Springer Handbook of Spacetime is dedicated to the ground-breaking paradigm shifts embodied in the two relativity theories, and describes in detail the profound reshaping of physical sciences they ushered in. It includes in a single volume chapters on foundations, on the underlying mathematics, on physical and astrophysical implications, experimental evidence and cosmological predictions, as well as chapters on efforts to unify general relativity and quantum physics. The Handbook can be used as a desk reference by researchers in a wide variety of fields, not only by specialists in relativity but also by researchers in related areas that either grew out of, or are deeply influenced by, the two relativity theories: cosmology, astronomy and astrophysics, high energy physics, quantum field theory, mathematics, and philosophy of science. It should also serve as a valuable resource for graduate students and young researchers entering these areas, and for instructors who teach courses on these subjects. The Handbook is divided into six parts. Part A: Introduction to Spacetime Structure. Part B: Foundational Issues. Part C: Spacetime Structure and Mathematics. Part D: Confronting Relativity theories with observations. Part E: General relativity and the universe. Part F: Spacetime beyond Einstein.

Springer Handbook of Electrochemical Energy

Springer Handbook of Electrochemical Energy
Author: Cornelia Breitkopf
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 1019
Release: 2016-12-05
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3662466570

This comprehensive handbook covers all fundamentals of electrochemistry for contemporary applications. It provides a rich presentation of related topics of electrochemistry with a clear focus on energy technologies. It covers all aspects of electrochemistry starting with theoretical concepts and basic laws of thermodynamics, non-equilibrium thermodynamics and multiscale modeling. It further gathers the basic experimental methods such as potentiometry, reference electrodes, ion-sensitive electrodes, voltammetry and amperometry. The contents cover subjects related to mass transport, the electric double layer, ohmic losses and experimentation affecting electrochemical reactions. These aspects of electrochemistry are especially examined in view of specific energy technologies including batteries, polymer electrolyte and biological fuel cells, electrochemical capacitors, electrochemical hydrogen production and photoelectrochemistry. Organized in six parts, the overall complexity of electrochemistry is presented and makes this handbook an authoritative reference and definitive source for advanced students, professionals and scientists particularly interested in industrial and energy applications.

Time in Physics

Time in Physics
Author: Renato Renner
Publisher: Birkhäuser
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2017-11-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319686550

One of the most important questions concerning the foundations of physics, especially since the discovery of relativity and quantum theory, is the nature and role of time. In this book we bring together researchers from different areas of physics, mathematics, computer science and philosophy to discuss the role time plays in physics. There have been few books on this topic to date, and two of the key aims of the workshop and this book are to encourage more researchers to explore this area, and to pique students’ interest in the different roles time plays in physics.

Time And Science (In 3 Volumes)

Time And Science (In 3 Volumes)
Author: Remy Lestienne
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 1012
Release: 2023-06-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1800619995

Prominent scientists and philosophers of science address contemporary debates on the nature of Time. Their contributions freely discuss its unity and reality, its compatibility with the orders of classical philosophy (present, past and future) and with the disputed idea of free will (Volume 1). They also present a detailed and updated state of the role of Time in the so-called exact sciences: biology — or more precisely genetics, evolution, neurosciences, natural and artificial intelligence (Volume 2) , and physics — relativity, quantum mechanics and quantum gravity, and cosmology (Volume 3).

Beyond Spacetime

Beyond Spacetime
Author: Nick Huggett
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2020-05-14
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 110847702X

A collection of essays discussing the philosophy and foundations of quantum gravity. Written by leading philosophers and physicists in the field, chapters cover the important conceptual questions in the search for a quantum theory of gravity, and the current state of understanding among philosophers and physicists.

Time of Nature and the Nature of Time

Time of Nature and the Nature of Time
Author: Christophe Bouton
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 403
Release: 2017-05-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319537253

This volume addresses the question of time from the perspective of the time of nature. Its aim is to provide some insights about the nature of time on the basis of the different uses of the concept of time in natural sciences. Presenting a dialogue between philosophy and science, it features a collection of papers that investigate the representation, modeling and understanding of time as they appear in physics, biology, geology and paleontology. It asks questions such as: whether or not the notions of time in the various sciences are reducible to the same physical time, what status should be given to timescale differences, or what are the specific epistemic issues raised by past facts in natural sciences. The book first explores the experience of time and its relation to time in nature in a set of chapters that bring together what human experience and physics enable metaphysicians, logicians and scientists to say about time. Next, it studies time in physics, including some puzzling paradoxes about time raised by the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. The volume then goes on to examine the distinctive problems and conceptions of time in the life sciences. It explores the concept of deep time in paleontology and geology, time in the epistemology of evolutionary biology, and time in developmental biology. Each scientific discipline features a specific approach to time and uses distinctive methodologies for implementing time in its models. This volume seeks to define a common language to conceive of the distinct ways different scientific disciplines view time. In the process, it offers a new approach to the issue of time that will appeal to a wide range of readers: philosophers and historians of science, metaphysicians and natural scientists - be they scholars, advanced students or readers from an educated general audience.

Time And Science - Volume 3: Physical Sciences And Cosmology

Time And Science - Volume 3: Physical Sciences And Cosmology
Author: Remy Lestienne
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 367
Release: 2023-06-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1800613865

The present volume of Time and Science series is devoted to Physical Sciences and Cosmology. Today more than ever, the question 'is Time an ontological property, a necessary ingredient for the physical description of the world, or a purely epistemological element, relative to our situation in the world?' worry physicists and cosmologists alike. For many of them, Relativity (and particularly General Relativity), as well as its reconciliation with quantum mechanics in the elaboration of a quantum theory of gravitation, points to a negative answer to the first alternative, and leads them to deny the objective reality of time. For others, the answer is nuanced by the evidence of an emerging temporal property when one climbs the scales of the complexity of systems and/or the applicability of the statistical laws of thermodynamics. But for some, the illusion of the unreality of time comes from certain confusions that they denounce, and plead for the re-establishment of time at the heart of physical theories.

Seven Fundamental Concepts in Spacetime Physics

Seven Fundamental Concepts in Spacetime Physics
Author: Vesselin Petkov
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 115
Release: 2024-01-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3031497309

The book presents seven fundamental concepts in spacetime physics mostly by following Hermann Minkowski’s revolutionary ideas summarized in his 1908 lecture "Space and Time." These concepts are: spacetime, inertial and accelerated motion in spacetime physics, the origin and nature of inertia in spacetime physics, relativistic mass, gravitation, gravitational waves, and black holes. They have been selected because they appear to be causing most misconceptions and confusion in spacetime physics. This second edition has been revised to include additional clarifications, more detailed elaboration of the arguments and also new material published in the interim.

The Problem of Time

The Problem of Time
Author: Edward Anderson
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 917
Release: 2017-09-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319588486

This book is a treatise on time and on background independence in physics. It first considers how time is conceived of in each accepted paradigm of physics: Newtonian, special relativity, quantum mechanics (QM) and general relativity (GR). Substantial differences are moreover uncovered between what is meant by time in QM and in GR. These differences jointly source the Problem of Time: Nine interlinked facets which arise upon attempting concurrent treatment of the QM and GR paradigms, as is required in particular for a background independent theory of quantum gravity. A sizeable proportion of current quantum gravity programs - e.g. geometrodynamical and loop quantum gravity approaches to quantum GR, quantum cosmology, supergravity and M-theory - are background independent in this sense. This book's foundational topic is thus furthermore of practical relevance in the ongoing development of quantum gravity programs. This book shows moreover that eight of the nine facets of the Problem of Time already occur upon entertaining background independence in classical (rather than quantum) physics. By this development, and interpreting shape theory as modelling background independence, this book further establishes background independence as a field of study. Background independent mechanics, as well as minisuperspace (spatially homogeneous) models of GR and perturbations thereabout are used to illustrate these points. As hitherto formulated, the different facets of the Problem of Time greatly interfere with each others' attempted resolutions. This book explains how, none the less, a local resolution of the Problem of Time can be arrived at after various reconceptualizations of the facets and reformulations of their mathematical implementation. Self-contained appendices on mathematical methods for basic and foundational quantum gravity are included. Finally, this book outlines how supergravity is refreshingly different from GR as a realization of background independence, and what background independence entails at the topological level and beyond.

Relativity without Spacetime

Relativity without Spacetime
Author: Joseph K. Cosgrove
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2018-05-23
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319726315

In 1908, three years after Einstein first published his special theory of relativity, the mathematician Hermann Minkowski introduced his four-dimensional “spacetime” interpretation of the theory. Einstein initially dismissed Minkowski’s theory, remarking that “since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity I do not understand it myself anymore.” Yet Minkowski’s theory soon found wide acceptance among physicists, including eventually Einstein himself, whose conversion to Minkowski’s way of thinking was engendered by the realization that he could profitably employ it for the formulation of his new theory of gravity. The validity of Minkowski’s mathematical “merging” of space and time has rarely been questioned by either physicists or philosophers since Einstein incorporated it into his theory of gravity. Physicists often employ Minkowski spacetime with little regard to the whether it provides a true account of the physical world as opposed to a useful mathematical tool in the theory of relativity. Philosophers sometimes treat the philosophy of space and time as if it were a mere appendix to Minkowski’s theory. In this critical study, Joseph Cosgrove subjects the concept of spacetime to a comprehensive examination and concludes that Einstein’s initial assessment of Minkowksi was essentially correct.