Observational Foundations of Physics
Cambridge University Press, 5/5/2010
EAN 9780521455978, ISBN10: 0521455979
Paperback, 180 pages, 22.6 x 15 x 1 cm
Language: English
The central models of theoretical physics have been extraordinarily successful in describing and predicting the behaviour of physical systems under an enormous range of conditions. But why are these mathematical theories so successful, and how is their structure influenced by the nature of the observations on which they are inevitably based? This intriguing book examines these subtle and fundamental issues, and concludes with the assertion that successful prediction provides compelling support for belief in a world independent of the observer. Dealing with important and basic aspects of the general framework of physics, this book will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students in the physical sciences, and to anyone with an interest in the empirical and metaphysical foundations of science.
Preface
1. Introduction
2. Standards of time and equations of motion
3. Observations at a distance
Special relativity
4. Microphysics
Relativistic quantum mechanics
5. Indeterminacy in theory and observation
6.Why does mathematical physics work?
7. Probable argument
8. Conclusion
Appendix
References.