Particle Metaphysics (eBook)

Preface 7
Contents 14
1 Scientific Realism 17
1.1 Empirical Knowledge and Metaphysics 20
1.2 More or Less Empiricist Demarcations 27
1.3 The Real and the Actual 33
1.4 Realism and Quantum Theory 41
1.5 The Metaphysics of Physics 47
1.6 Towards a Realism of Properties 54
2 Extending Physical Reality 57
2.1 Introducing Physical Quantities 59
2.2 Idealization and the Experimental Method 64
2.3 Discovery or Manufacture? 69
2.4 Phenomena and Their Causes 76
2.5 Observation Generalized 81
2.6 The Empirical Reality of Physics 87
3 Particle Observation and Measurement 93
3.1 Two Particle Concepts 96
3.2 Evidence for a Particle: Two Case Studies 99
3.3 Theorizing the Observations 108
3.4 The Track of the Positron 126
3.5 Particle Identification and Quantum Electrodynamics 130
3.6 Are There Subatomic Particles? 135
4 Probing Subatomic Structure 140
4.1 Scattering Experiments 142
4.2 Rutherford Scattering and Scale Invariance 147
4.3 Pointlikeness in the Quantum Domain 151
4.4 A Chain of Models 163
4.5 Analogy with the Optical Microscope 168
4.6 Looking Into The Atom 173
5 Measurement and the Unity of Physics 176
5.1 Incommensurability and Measurement 178
5.2 A Heterogeneous Measurement Theory 184
5.3 Particle Tracks 189
5.4 Building Bridges: Unifying Principles 202
5.5 The Scales of Physical Quantities 213
5.6 Questions of Semantic Consistency 217
6 Metamorphoses of the Particle Concept 223
6.1 Classical Particles 224
6.2 The Shift to Quantum Particles 227
6.3 The Operational Particle Concept 234
6.4 More Quantum Particles 236
6.5 The Parts of Matter 260
6.6 What Kinds of Particles Remain? 271
7 Wave–Particle Duality 278
7.1 Light Particles and Matter Waves 280
7.2 Wave–Particle Duality in Quantum Mechanics 281
7.3 Prepare Waves, Detect Particles 291
7.4 The Double Slit Reconsidered 302
7.5 Recent Which-Way Experiments 318
7.6 The Causes of the Phenomena 329
8 Subatomic Reality 333
8.1 Scientific Realism Reconsidered 334
8.2 The Meaning of Quantum Concepts 336
8.3 The Mereological Particle Concept 338
8.4 The Causal Particle Concept 341
8.5 Wave–Particle Duality 342
8.6 Subatomic Reality: A Critical View 346
Appendices 353
A Measurement Theory 354
A.1 Empirical Relational Structures 354
A.2 Physical Quantities 355
A.3 The Archimedean Axiom 356
A.4 The Metaphysics of Measurement 356
B The .-Theorem of Dimensional Analysis 359
C The Effective Cross-Section 361
D Dimensional Analysis of Rutherford Scattering 364
E Mereology 366
E.1 Axioms of Mereology 366
E.2 Mereology and Physics 367
E.3 Matter Constituents 369
References 371
Name Index 390