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65GR as a classical spin-2 theory?Philosophy of Science. forthcoming.The self-interaction spin-2 approach to GR has been extremely influential in the particle physics community. Leaving no doubt regarding its heuristic value, we argue that any view of the metric field of GR as nothing but a stand-in for a self-coupling field in at spacetime runs into a dilemma: either the view is physically incomplete in so far as it requires recourse to GR after all, or it leads to an absurd multiplication of alternative viewpoints on GR rendering any understanding of the metric…Read more
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11On the Non-identity Causal Theory of Spacetime from Causal Set TheoryErkenntnis 1-22. forthcoming.The aim to provide a causal theory of spacetime is not new. The overall program, however, was largely deemed unsuccessful, chiefly due to criticism voiced by Smart (Monist 53:385–395, 1969), Nerlich (Br J Philos Sci 33(4):361–388, 1982) and Earman (Synthese 24:74–86, 1972). Recently, Baron and Le Bihan (Noûs 58:202–224, 2023) have argued that developments in contemporary physics should make us reconsider this verdict. More precisely, they argue the emergence of spacetime from causal set theory (…Read more
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The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science | Vol 75, No 3British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 71 (4): 1287-1317. 2018.
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359Are all laws of nature created equal? Meta-laws versus more necessary lawsErkenntnis 1-19. 2023.Two approaches to elevating certain laws of nature over others have come to prominence recently. On the one hand, according to the meta-laws approach, there are meta-laws, laws which relate to laws as those laws relate to particular facts. On the other hand, according to the modal, or non-absolutist, approach, some laws are necessary in a stricter sense than others. Both approaches play an important role in current research, questioning the ‘orthodoxy’ represented by the leading philosophical th…Read more
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15The local validity of special relativity from a scale-relative perspectiveBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science. forthcoming.
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1The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science | Vol 75, No 3British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 71 (4): 1287-1317. 2018.
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707Renormalizability, fundamentality and a final theory: The role of UV-completion in the search for quantum gravityBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 70 (2). 2017.Principles are central to physical reasoning, particularly in the search for a theory of quantum gravity (QG), where novel empirical data is lacking. One principle widely adopted in the search for QG is UV completion: the idea that a theory should (formally) hold up to all possible high energies. We argue---/contra/ standard scientific practice---that UV-completion is poorly-motivated as a guiding principle in theory-construction, and cannot be used as a criterion of theory-justification in the …Read more
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18Andreas Bartels: Wissenschaft. de Gruyter: Berlin, 2021, 255 pp., €24,95 (paperback), ISBN: 9783110648249 (review)Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 55 (1): 165-170. 2023.
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32Non-empirical robustness arguments in quantum gravityStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 72 70-86. 2020.
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748The strong arm of the law: a unified account of necessary and contingent laws of natureSynthese 199 (3-4): 10211-10252. 2021.A common feature of all standard theories of the laws of nature is that they are "absolutist": They take laws to be either all metaphysically necessary or all contingent. Science, however, gives us reason to think that there are laws of both kinds, suggesting that standard theories should make way for "non-absolutist" alternatives: theories which accommodate laws of both modal statuses. In this paper, we set out three explanatory challenges for any candidate non-absolutist theory and discuss the…Read more
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32Holography without holography: How to turn inter-representational into intra-theoretical relations in AdS/CFTStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 71 101-117. 2020.We show by means of the AdS/CFT correspondence in the context of quantum gravity how inter-representational relations—loosely speaking relations among different equivalent representations of one and the same physics—can play out as a tool for intra-theoretical developments and thus boost theory development in the context of discovery. More precisely, we first show that, as a duality, the AdS/CFT correspondence cannot in itself testify to the quantum origin of gravity (though it may be utilized f…Read more
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56Spacetime functionalism in general relativity and quantum gravitySynthese 199 (S2): 221-227. 2020.Introduction for the Synthese Special Issue on Spacetime Functionalism
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23Clocks and Chronogeometry: Rotating Spacetimes and the Relativistic Null HypothesisBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 71 (4): 1287-1317. 2018.Recent work in the physics literature demonstrates that, in particular classes of rotating spacetimes, physical light rays in general do not traverse null geodesics. Having presented this result, we discuss its philosophical significance, both for the clock hypothesis (and, in particular, a recent purported proof thereof for light clocks), and for the operational meaning of the metric field. 1Introduction 2Fletcher's Theorem 2.1Maudlin on the clock hypothesis in special relativity 2.2Fletcher’s …Read more
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113Teaching and learning guide for: The epistemology of spacetimePhilosophy Compass 17 (10). 2022.Philosophy Compass, Volume 17, Issue 10, October 2022.
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1667Have we Lost Spacetime on the Way? Narrowing the Gap between General Relativity and Quantum GravityStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 65 (C): 112-121. 2019.Important features of space and time are taken to be missing in quantum gravity, allegedly requiring an explanation of the emergence of spacetime from non-spatio-temporal theories. In this paper, we argue that the explanatory gap between general relativity and non-spatio- temporal quantum gravity theories might significantly be reduced with two moves. First, we point out that spacetime is already partially missing in the context of general relativity when understood from a dynamical perspective.…Read more
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501It has long been thought that observing distinctive traces of quantum gravity in a laboratory setting is effectively impossible, since gravity is so much weaker than all the other familiar forces in particle physics. But the quantum gravity phenomenology community today seeks to do the (effectively) impossible, using a challenging novel class of `tabletop' Gravitationally Induced Entanglement (GIE) experiments, surveyed here. The hypothesized outcomes of the GIE experiments are claimed by some (…Read more
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31Miracles persist: a reply to SusEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Science 12 (1): 1-10. 2022.In a recent article in this journal, Sus purports to account for what have been identified as the ‘two miracles’ of general relativity—that (1) the local symmetries of all dynamical equations for matter fields coincide, and (2) the symmetries of the dynamical equations governing matter fields coincide locally with the symmetries of the metric field—by application of the familiar result that every symmetry of the action is also a symmetry of the resulting equations of motion. In this reply, we ar…Read more
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39On the Status of Newtonian Gravitational RadiationFoundations of Physics 51 (2): 1-16. 2021.We discuss the status of gravitational radiation in Newtonian theories. In order to do so, we consider various options for interpreting the Poisson equation as encoding propagating solutions, reflect on the extent to which limit considerations from general relativity can shed light on the Poisson equation’s conceptual status, and discuss various senses in which the Poisson equation counts as a dynamical equation.
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29Quantisation as a method of generation: The nature and prospects of theory changes through quantisationStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 92 (C): 209-223. 2022.
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98On metaphysically necessary laws from physicsEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Science 10 (2): 1-13. 2020.How does metaphysical necessity relate to the modal force often associated with natural laws? Fine argues that natural necessity can neither be obtained from metaphysical necessity via forms of restriction nor of relativization — and therefore pleads for modal pluralism concerning natural and metaphysical necessity. Wolff, 898–906, 2013) aims at providing illustrative examples in support of applying Fine’s view to the laws of nature with specific recourse to the laws of physics: On the one hand,…Read more
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41Prominently, Norton argues against constructivism about spacetime theories, the doctrine that spatiotemporal structure in the dynamics only has derivative status. Among other things, he accuses Brown and Pooley's dynamical approach to special relativity of being merely half-way constructivist: setting up relativistic fields as presupposed in the dynamical approach to special relativity already requires spatiotemporal background structure. We first assess a recent solution proposal by Menon and t…Read more
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40On the empirical coherence and the spatiotemporal gap problem in quantum gravity: and why functionalism does not (have to) helpSynthese 199 (S2): 395-412. 2020.The empirical coherence problem of quantum gravity is the worry that a theory which does not fundamentally contain local beables located in space and time—such as is arguably the case for certain approaches to quantum gravity—cannot be connected to measurements and thus has its prospects of being empirically adequate undermined. Spacetime functionalism à la Lam and Wüthrich is said to solve this empirical coherence problem as well as bridging a severe conceptual gap between spatiotemporal struct…Read more
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144The epistemology of spacetimePhilosophy Compass 17 (4). 2021.Philosophy Compass, Volume 17, Issue 4, April 2022.
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38How Not to Establish the Non-renormalizability of GravityFoundations of Physics 48 (2): 237-252. 2018.General relativity cannot be formulated as a perturbatively renormalizable quantum field theory. An argument relying on the validity of the Bekenstein–Hawking entropy formula aims at dismissing gravity as non-renormalizable per se, against hopes that d-dimensional GR could turn out to have a non-perturbatively renormalizable d–dimensional quantum field theoretic formulation. In this note we discuss various forms of highly problematic semi-classical extrapolations assumed by both sides of the deb…Read more
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68Renormalizability, Fundamentality, and a Final Theory: The Role of UV-Completion in the Search for Quantum GravityBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 70 (2): 377-406. 2019.Principles are central to physical reasoning, particularly in the search for a theory of quantum gravity, where novel empirical data are lacking. One principle widely adopted in the search for QG is ultraviolet completion: the idea that a theory should hold up to all possible high energies. We argue— contra standard scientific practice—that UV-completion is poorly motivated as a guiding principle in theory-construction, and cannot be used as a criterion of theory-justification in the search for …Read more