Historical Roots of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking: Steps Towards an Analogy (SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology) - Softcover

Gaudenzi, Rocco

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3030998940 ISBN 13: 9783030998943

Publisher: Springer, 2022

Synopsis

What are the thinking processes and knowledge resources involved in a complex discovery? How can the physics of solids, the physics of nuclei, and elementary particle physics cross-fertilise in spite of the widely differing domains and energy scales they deal with? This book addresses the questions by reconstructing and examining from the historical epistemological perspective the fascinating heuristic path to the concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking. This analysis especially brings to light the role that analogical reasoning and mathematical reformulations played in the discovery process, as well as the influence of the Japanese milieu and approach to physical problems.

About this title

About the Author

After a high-school degree in Classics, Rocco Gaudenzi earned his Master and Doctoral degree in physics at the ETH Zurich and the Delft University of Technology, publishing in the fields of solid-state physics, quantum magnetism and the thermodynamics of information processing. He has then moved on to do research on the conceptual dynamics, historical and philosophical dimensions of science. At the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin he carried out an investigation on the flow of concepts and formalisms between modern low-energy physics and high-energy physics, and the two-way analogical transfer of mathematical methods and theoretical frameworks.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3030998940
• ISBN 13: 9783030998943
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 141