•  67
    Gauge symmetries provide one of the most puzzling examples of the applicability of mathematics in physics. The presented work focuses on the role of analogical reasoning in the gauge argument, motivated by Mark Steiner’s claim that the application of the gauge principle relies on a Pythagorean analogy whose success undermines naturalist philosophy. In this paper, we present two different views concerning the analogy between gravity, electromagnetism, and nuclear interactions, each providing a di…Read more
  •  48
    Structuralism and the conformity of mathematics and nature
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 86 (C): 84-92. 2021.
  •  30
    Scientific Perspectivism and the Methodology of Modern Mathematical Physics
    Philosophy of Science 89 (3): 504-520. 2022.
    Perspectival realists often appeal to the methodology of science to secure a realist account of the retention and continued success of scientific claims through the progress of science. However, in the context of modern physics, the retention and continued success of scientific claims are typically only definable within a mathematical framework. In this article, I argue that this concern leaves the perspectivist open to Cassirer’s neo-Kantian critique of the applicability of mathematics in the n…Read more
  •  19
    What Heinrich Hertz discovered about electric waves in 1887–1888
    with Jed Buchwald, Chen-Pang Yeang, Jenifer Barton, and Quinn Harrington
    Archive for History of Exact Sciences 75 (2): 125-171. 2020.
    Among the most influential and well-known experiments of the 19th century was the generation and detection of electromagnetic radiation by Heinrich Hertz in 1887–1888, work that bears favorable comparison for experimental ingenuity and influence with that by Michael Faraday in the 1830s and 1840s. In what follows, we pursue issues raised by what Hertz did in his experimental space to produce and to detect what proved to be an extraordinarily subtle effect. Though he did provide evidence for the …Read more
  •  9
    Correction to: What Heinrich Hertz discovered about electric waves in 1887–1888
    with Jed Buchwald, Chen-Pang Yeang, Jenifer Barton, and Quinn Harrington
    Archive for History of Exact Sciences 75 (2): 173-173. 2020.
    Unfortunately, only after online first article publication, it was noticed that the first four sentences in footnote two were incorrect.
  •  8
    The notorious man-in-the-street: Hermann Weyl and the problem of knowledge
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 104 (C): 48-60. 2024.
  • Nuclear spin qubits have the longest coherence times in the solid state, but their quantum readout and initialization is a great challenge. We present a theory for the interaction of an electric current with the nuclear spins of donor impurities in semiconductors. The theory yields a sensitivity criterion for quantum detection of nuclear spin states using electrically detected magnetic resonance, as well as an all-electrical method for fast nuclear spin qubit initialization.