Description
This book gives a broad synthesis of conceptual developments of twentieth-century field theories, from the general theory of relativity to quantum field theory and gauge theory. The author gives a historico-critical exposition of the conceptual foundations of the theories revealing a pattern to the evolution of these conceptions. Theoretical physicists and students of theoretical physics will find in this book an account of the foundational problems of their discipline that will help them understand the internal logic and dynamics of their subject. In addition the book will provide professional historians and philosophers of science, and especially philosophers of physics, with a conceptual basis for further historical, cultural and sociological analysis of the theories discussed. The book also contains much material for philosophical (metaphysical, methodological and semantical) reflection. Finally, the scientifically qualified general reader will find in this book a deeper analysis of contemporary conceptions of the physical world than can be found in popular accounts of the subject.
Chapter
2.2 The continuous medium
2.3 The mechanical ether field theory
2.4 The electromagnetic field theory
Part I. The geometrical programme for fundamental interactions
3 Einstein's route to the gravitational field
3.2 The special theory of relativity (STR)
3.3 The geometrical interpretation of STR
3.4 The introduction of gravitational fields: the principle of equivalence
4 The general theory of relativity (GTR)
4.1 The field and geometry
4.2 The field and spacetime: general covariance
4.3 Matter versus spacetime and the field: Mach's principle
4.4 The consistency of GTR: the genesis of relativistic cosmology
5 The geometrical programme (GP)
5.1 Einstein's views of spacetime and geometry
5.2 The geometrical programme: strong and weak versions
5.4 Topological investigations: singularities, horizons, and black holes
Part II. The quantum field programme for fundamental interactions
6 The rise of quantum theory
6.1 The quantization of motion
6.2 The quantization of radiation
6.3 The birth of matrix mechanics
6.4 The duality of matter, individuality, and quantum statistics
6.5 The birth of wave mechanics
6.6 Uncertainty and complementarity
7 The formation of the conceptual foundations of quantum field theory
7.1 Interpretations of the wave function
7.3 The quantization of fields
8 The quantum field programme (QFP)
8.3 Various attitudes toward renormalizability
8.4 The axiomatic approach
8.6 The PCAC hypothesis and current algebra
8.8 The renormalization group
8.9 Swings of the pendulum
Part III. The gauge field programme for fundamental interactions
9 The route to gauge fields
9.2 The gauge principle of fixing forms of interactions
10 The formation of the conceptual foundations of gauge field theories
10.1 Mechanisms for short-range interactions (I): spontaneous symmetry breaking
10.2 Mechanisms for short-range interactions (II): asymptotic freedom
11 The gauge field programme (GFP)
11.1 The rise of the standard model
11.3 GFP as a synthesis of GP and QFP
11.4 Stagnation and a new direction: effective field theories
12 Ontological synthesis and scientific realism
12.1 Two views on how science develops
12.2 Frameworks opposed to the incommensurability thesis
12.3 Structural properties of ontologies
12.4 Conceptual revolutions via ontological synthesis
12.5 Conceptual revolutions and scientific realism
12.6 Conceptual revolutions and scientific rationality
A1. The rise of intrinsic, local, and dynamic geometry
A2. Homotopy classes and homotopy groups
Conceptual Developments of 20th Century Field Theories
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