Karim P Y Thébault
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 964847 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Karim P Y Thébault |
| PRENOMES | Karim P Y |
| SOBRENOME | Thébault |
| ASSINATURA | THÉBAULT K P Y |
| AFILIAÇÕES | University of Bristol |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3440-3030 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 25 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 70 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 25 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2012 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 5 |
On the Quantum Theory of Molecules
Philosophers have claimed that: (a) Born–Oppenheimer approximation methods for solving molecular Schrödinger equations violate the Heisenberg uncertainty relations; therefore, (b) ‘quantum chemistry’ is not fully quantum; and (c) therefore chemistry does not reduce to physics. This paper analyses the reasoning behind Born–Oppenheimer methods and shows that they are internally consistent and fully quantum mechanical, contrary to (a)–(c). Our analy…
Decoherence and Probability
One cannot justifiably presuppose the physical salience of structures derived via decoherence theory based upon an entirely uninterpreted use of the quantum formalism. Non-probabilistic accounts of the emergence of probability via decoherence are unconvincing. An alternative account of the emergence of probability involves the combination of a partially interpreted decoherence model and an averaging of observables with respect to a positive-defin…
In Search of Cosmic Time
This article considers a new and deeply challenging aspect of the problem of time in the context of cosmology, drawing on the work of Thiemann. Thiemann argues for a radical response to the cosmic problem of time that requires us to modify the classical Friedmann equations. By contrast, we offer a conservative proposal for the solution of the problem, by bringing together ideas from the contemporary literature regarding reference frames, complete…
Theories without models
The perturbative treatment of realistic quantum field theories, such as quantum electrodynamics, requires the use of mathematical idealizations in the approximation series for scattering amplitudes. Such mathematical idealizations are necessary to derive empirically relevant models from the theory. Mathematical idealizations can be either controlled or uncontrolled, depending on whether current scientific knowledge can explain whether the effects…
How to Engineer a Quantum Wavefunction
In a conventional experiment, scientists typically aim to learn about target systems by manipulating source systems of the same material type . In an analogue quantum simulation, by contrast, scientists typically aim to learn about target quantum systems of one material type via an experiment on a source quantum system of a different material type. In this article, we argue that such inferences can be justified by reference to source and target q…
Spacetime Conventionalism Revisited
We provide five rearticulations of the thesis that the structure of spacetime is conventional, rather than empirically determined, based upon variation of the structures that are empirically underdetermined and modal contexts in which this underdetermination occurs. Three of the five formulations of conventionalism will be found to fail. Two are found to open up new interesting problems for researchers in the foundations of general relativity. In…
Explanatory Depth in Primordial Cosmology
We develop and apply a multi-dimensional account of explanatory depth towards a comparative analysis of inflationary and bouncing paradigms in primordial cosmology. Our analysis builds on earlier work due to Azhar and Loeb (2021) that establishes initial conditions fine-tuning as a dimension of explanatory depth relevant to debates in contemporary cosmology. We propose dynamical fine-tuning and autonomy as two further dimensions of depth in the c…
Analogue Quantum Simulation
On Mach on time
On the Universality of Hawking Radiation
A physically consistent semi-classical treatment of black holes requires universality arguments to deal with the ‘trans-Planckian’ problem where quantum spacetime effects appear to be amplified such that they undermine the entire semi-classical modelling framework. We evaluate three families of such arguments in comparison with Wilsonian renormalization group universality arguments found in the context of condensed matter physics. Our analysis is…
Analogue Quantum Simulation
What science can do for democracy
Political scientists have conventionally assumed that achieving democracy is a one-way ratchet. Only very recently has the question of “democratic backsliding” attracted any research attention. We argue that democratic instability is best understood with tools from complexity science. The explanatory power of complexity science arises from several features of complex systems. Their relevance in the context of democracy is discussed. Several polic…
Hawking radiation and analogue experiments
Models on the move
Stability of democracies
The idea that democracy is under threat, after being largely dormant for at least 40 years, is looming increasingly large in public discourse. Complex systems theory offers a range of powerful new tools to analyse the stability of social institutions in general, and democracy in particular. What makes a democracy stable? And which processes potentially lead to instability of a democratic system? This paper offers a complex systems perspective on …
Modelling Inequality
Econophysics is a new and exciting cross-disciplinary research field that applies models and modelling techniques from statistical physics to economic systems. It is not, however, without its critics: prominent figures in more mainstream economic theory have criticized some elements of the methodology of econophysics. One of the main lines of criticism concerns the nature of the modelling assumptions and idealizations involved, and a particular t…
Confirmation via Analogue Simulation
In this article we argue for the existence of ‘analogue simulation’ as a novel form of scientific inference with the potential to be confirmatory. This notion is distinct from the modes of analogical reasoning detailed in the literature, and draws inspiration from fluid dynamical ‘dumb hole’ analogues to gravitational black holes. For that case, which is considered in detail, we defend the claim that the phenomena of gravitational Hawking radiati…
Ψ-epistemic quantum cosmology
Regarding the ‘Hole Argument’ and the ‘Problem of Time’
The canonical formalism of general relativity affords a particularly interesting characterization of the infamous hole argument. It also provides a natural formalism in which to relate the hole argument to the problem of time in classical and quantum gravity. Conceptual and formal inadequacies within the representative language of canonical gravity will be shown to be at the heart of both the canonical hole argument and the problem of time. Inter…
Quantization as a Guide to Ontic Structure
The ontic structural realist stance is motivated by a desire to do philosophical justice to the success of science, whilst withstanding the metaphysical undermining generated by the various species of ontological underdetermination. We are, however, as yet in want of general principles to provide a scaffold for the explicit construction of structural ontologies. Here we will attempt to bridge this gap by utilizing the formal procedure of quantiza…
Time Remains
On one popular view, the general covariance of gravity implies that change is relational in a strong sense, such that all it is for a physical degree of freedom to change is for it to vary with regard to a second physical degree of freedom. At a quantum level, this view of change as relative variation leads to a fundamentally timeless formalism for quantum gravity. Here, we will show how one may avoid this acute ‘problem of time’. Under our view,…
Many worlds
Against the empirical viability of the Deutsch–Wallace–Everett approach to quantum mechanics
Three denials of time in the interpretation of canonical gravity
Symplectic Reduction and the Problem of Time in Nonrelativistic Mechanics
The deep connection between the interpretation of theories invariant under local symmetry transformations (i.e. gauge theories) and the philosophy of space and time can be illustrated nonrelativistically via the investigation of reparameterization-invariant reformulations of Newtonian mechanics, such as Jacobi's theory. Like general relativity, the canonical formulation of such theories feature Hamiltonian constraints; and like general relativity…
Confirmation via Analogue Simulation
In this article we argue for the existence of ‘analogue simulation’ as a novel form of scientific inference with the potential to be confirmatory. This notion is distinct from the modes of analogical reasoning detailed in the literature, and draws inspiration from fluid dynamical ‘dumb hole’ analogues to gravitational black holes. For that case, which is considered in detail, we defend the claim that the phenomena of gravitational Hawking radiati…
Many worlds
On the Universality of Hawking Radiation
A physically consistent semi-classical treatment of black holes requires universality arguments to deal with the ‘trans-Planckian’ problem where quantum spacetime effects appear to be amplified such that they undermine the entire semi-classical modelling framework. We evaluate three families of such arguments in comparison with Wilsonian renormalization group universality arguments found in the context of condensed matter physics. Our analysis is…
Time Remains
On one popular view, the general covariance of gravity implies that change is relational in a strong sense, such that all it is for a physical degree of freedom to change is for it to vary with regard to a second physical degree of freedom. At a quantum level, this view of change as relative variation leads to a fundamentally timeless formalism for quantum gravity. Here, we will show how one may avoid this acute ‘problem of time’. Under our view,…
Quantization as a Guide to Ontic Structure
The ontic structural realist stance is motivated by a desire to do philosophical justice to the success of science, whilst withstanding the metaphysical undermining generated by the various species of ontological underdetermination. We are, however, as yet in want of general principles to provide a scaffold for the explicit construction of structural ontologies. Here we will attempt to bridge this gap by utilizing the formal procedure of quantiza…
Modelling Inequality
Econophysics is a new and exciting cross-disciplinary research field that applies models and modelling techniques from statistical physics to economic systems. It is not, however, without its critics: prominent figures in more mainstream economic theory have criticized some elements of the methodology of econophysics. One of the main lines of criticism concerns the nature of the modelling assumptions and idealizations involved, and a particular t…
Symplectic Reduction and the Problem of Time in Nonrelativistic Mechanics
The deep connection between the interpretation of theories invariant under local symmetry transformations (i.e. gauge theories) and the philosophy of space and time can be illustrated nonrelativistically via the investigation of reparameterization-invariant reformulations of Newtonian mechanics, such as Jacobi's theory. Like general relativity, the canonical formulation of such theories feature Hamiltonian constraints; and like general relativity…
On Mach on time
What science can do for democracy
Political scientists have conventionally assumed that achieving democracy is a one-way ratchet. Only very recently has the question of “democratic backsliding” attracted any research attention. We argue that democratic instability is best understood with tools from complexity science. The explanatory power of complexity science arises from several features of complex systems. Their relevance in the context of democracy is discussed. Several polic…
Models on the move
Explanatory Depth in Primordial Cosmology
We develop and apply a multi-dimensional account of explanatory depth towards a comparative analysis of inflationary and bouncing paradigms in primordial cosmology. Our analysis builds on earlier work due to Azhar and Loeb (2021) that establishes initial conditions fine-tuning as a dimension of explanatory depth relevant to debates in contemporary cosmology. We propose dynamical fine-tuning and autonomy as two further dimensions of depth in the c…
Regarding the ‘Hole Argument’ and the ‘Problem of Time’
The canonical formalism of general relativity affords a particularly interesting characterization of the infamous hole argument. It also provides a natural formalism in which to relate the hole argument to the problem of time in classical and quantum gravity. Conceptual and formal inadequacies within the representative language of canonical gravity will be shown to be at the heart of both the canonical hole argument and the problem of time. Inter…
Theories without models
The perturbative treatment of realistic quantum field theories, such as quantum electrodynamics, requires the use of mathematical idealizations in the approximation series for scattering amplitudes. Such mathematical idealizations are necessary to derive empirically relevant models from the theory. Mathematical idealizations can be either controlled or uncontrolled, depending on whether current scientific knowledge can explain whether the effects…
Three denials of time in the interpretation of canonical gravity
Symplectic Reduction and the Problem of Time in Nonrelativistic Mechanics
The deep connection between the interpretation of theories invariant under local symmetry transformations (i.e. gauge theories) and the philosophy of space and time can be illustrated nonrelativistically via the investigation of reparameterization-invariant reformulations of Newtonian mechanics, such as Jacobi's theory. Like general relativity, the canonical formulation of such theories feature Hamiltonian constraints; and like general relativity…
Against the empirical viability of the Deutsch–Wallace–Everett approach to quantum mechanics
Many worlds
Ψ-epistemic quantum cosmology
Regarding the ‘Hole Argument’ and the ‘Problem of Time’
The canonical formalism of general relativity affords a particularly interesting characterization of the infamous hole argument. It also provides a natural formalism in which to relate the hole argument to the problem of time in classical and quantum gravity. Conceptual and formal inadequacies within the representative language of canonical gravity will be shown to be at the heart of both the canonical hole argument and the problem of time. Inter…
Quantization as a Guide to Ontic Structure
The ontic structural realist stance is motivated by a desire to do philosophical justice to the success of science, whilst withstanding the metaphysical undermining generated by the various species of ontological underdetermination. We are, however, as yet in want of general principles to provide a scaffold for the explicit construction of structural ontologies. Here we will attempt to bridge this gap by utilizing the formal procedure of quantiza…
Time Remains
On one popular view, the general covariance of gravity implies that change is relational in a strong sense, such that all it is for a physical degree of freedom to change is for it to vary with regard to a second physical degree of freedom. At a quantum level, this view of change as relative variation leads to a fundamentally timeless formalism for quantum gravity. Here, we will show how one may avoid this acute ‘problem of time’. Under our view,…
Confirmation via Analogue Simulation
In this article we argue for the existence of ‘analogue simulation’ as a novel form of scientific inference with the potential to be confirmatory. This notion is distinct from the modes of analogical reasoning detailed in the literature, and draws inspiration from fluid dynamical ‘dumb hole’ analogues to gravitational black holes. For that case, which is considered in detail, we defend the claim that the phenomena of gravitational Hawking radiati…
Stability of democracies
The idea that democracy is under threat, after being largely dormant for at least 40 years, is looming increasingly large in public discourse. Complex systems theory offers a range of powerful new tools to analyse the stability of social institutions in general, and democracy in particular. What makes a democracy stable? And which processes potentially lead to instability of a democratic system? This paper offers a complex systems perspective on …
Modelling Inequality
Econophysics is a new and exciting cross-disciplinary research field that applies models and modelling techniques from statistical physics to economic systems. It is not, however, without its critics: prominent figures in more mainstream economic theory have criticized some elements of the methodology of econophysics. One of the main lines of criticism concerns the nature of the modelling assumptions and idealizations involved, and a particular t…
Hawking radiation and analogue experiments
Models on the move
What science can do for democracy
Political scientists have conventionally assumed that achieving democracy is a one-way ratchet. Only very recently has the question of “democratic backsliding” attracted any research attention. We argue that democratic instability is best understood with tools from complexity science. The explanatory power of complexity science arises from several features of complex systems. Their relevance in the context of democracy is discussed. Several polic…
On Mach on time
On the Universality of Hawking Radiation
A physically consistent semi-classical treatment of black holes requires universality arguments to deal with the ‘trans-Planckian’ problem where quantum spacetime effects appear to be amplified such that they undermine the entire semi-classical modelling framework. We evaluate three families of such arguments in comparison with Wilsonian renormalization group universality arguments found in the context of condensed matter physics. Our analysis is…
Analogue Quantum Simulation
Analogue Quantum Simulation
Explanatory Depth in Primordial Cosmology
We develop and apply a multi-dimensional account of explanatory depth towards a comparative analysis of inflationary and bouncing paradigms in primordial cosmology. Our analysis builds on earlier work due to Azhar and Loeb (2021) that establishes initial conditions fine-tuning as a dimension of explanatory depth relevant to debates in contemporary cosmology. We propose dynamical fine-tuning and autonomy as two further dimensions of depth in the c…
Theories without models
The perturbative treatment of realistic quantum field theories, such as quantum electrodynamics, requires the use of mathematical idealizations in the approximation series for scattering amplitudes. Such mathematical idealizations are necessary to derive empirically relevant models from the theory. Mathematical idealizations can be either controlled or uncontrolled, depending on whether current scientific knowledge can explain whether the effects…
How to Engineer a Quantum Wavefunction
In a conventional experiment, scientists typically aim to learn about target systems by manipulating source systems of the same material type . In an analogue quantum simulation, by contrast, scientists typically aim to learn about target quantum systems of one material type via an experiment on a source quantum system of a different material type. In this article, we argue that such inferences can be justified by reference to source and target q…
Spacetime Conventionalism Revisited
We provide five rearticulations of the thesis that the structure of spacetime is conventional, rather than empirically determined, based upon variation of the structures that are empirically underdetermined and modal contexts in which this underdetermination occurs. Three of the five formulations of conventionalism will be found to fail. Two are found to open up new interesting problems for researchers in the foundations of general relativity. In…
Decoherence and Probability
One cannot justifiably presuppose the physical salience of structures derived via decoherence theory based upon an entirely uninterpreted use of the quantum formalism. Non-probabilistic accounts of the emergence of probability via decoherence are unconvincing. An alternative account of the emergence of probability involves the combination of a partially interpreted decoherence model and an averaging of observables with respect to a positive-defin…
In Search of Cosmic Time
This article considers a new and deeply challenging aspect of the problem of time in the context of cosmology, drawing on the work of Thiemann. Thiemann argues for a radical response to the cosmic problem of time that requires us to modify the classical Friedmann equations. By contrast, we offer a conservative proposal for the solution of the problem, by bringing together ideas from the contemporary literature regarding reference frames, complete…
On the Quantum Theory of Molecules
Philosophers have claimed that: (a) Born–Oppenheimer approximation methods for solving molecular Schrödinger equations violate the Heisenberg uncertainty relations; therefore, (b) ‘quantum chemistry’ is not fully quantum; and (c) therefore chemistry does not reduce to physics. This paper analyses the reasoning behind Born–Oppenheimer methods and shows that they are internally consistent and fully quantum mechanical, contrary to (a)–(c). Our analy…
Physics (21 obras) · Epistemology (16 obras) · Philosophy (16 obras) · Theoretical physics (16 obras) · Quantum mechanics (14 obras) · Quantum Mechanics and Applications (13 obras) · Computer Science (9 obras) · Cosmology and Gravitation Theories (8 obras) · Quantum (8 obras) · Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories (7 obras)