Crowther, Karen and Linnemann, Niels and Wuthrich, Christian (2018) What we cannot learn from analogue experiments. [Preprint]

Preview

Text CrowtherLinnemannWuthrich2018Archives_AnalogueExp_1.pdf Download (314kB) | Preview

Abstract

Analogue experiments have attracted interest for their potential to shed light on inaccessible domains. For instance, `dumb holes' in fluids and Bose-Einstein condensates, as analogues of black holes, have been promoted as means of confirming the existence of Hawking radiation in real black holes. We compare analogue experiments with other cases of experiment and simulation in physics. We argue---contra recent claims in the philosophical literature---that analogue experiments are not capable of confirming the existence of particular phenomena in inaccessible target systems. As they must assume the physical adequacy of the modelling framework used to describe the inaccessible target system, arguments to the conclusion that analogue experiments can yield confirmation for phenomena in those target systems, such as Hawking radiation in black holes, beg the question.

---

Export/Citation:

EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL

Social Networking:

Share |

---

Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Crowther, Karen karen.crowther@unige.ch 000-0003-1558-4814 Linnemann, Niels niels.linnemann@unige.ch Wuthrich, Christian christian.wuthrich@unige.ch 0000-0001-8774-6160
Additional Information:	26 pages, 2 figures
Keywords:	Analogy; Black Hole Thermodynamics; Hawking Radiation; Dumb Holes; Quantum Gravity; Analogue Reasoning.
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Condensed Matter Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Gravity
Depositing User:	Christian Wuthrich
Date Deposited:	09 Nov 2018 19:19
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2018 19:19
Item ID:	15283
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Condensed Matter Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Gravity
Date:	9 November 2018
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/15283

Available Versions of this Item

• What we cannot learn from analogue experiments. (deposited 09 Nov 2018 19:19) [Currently Displayed]
  • What we cannot learn from analogue experiments. (deposited 29 Mar 2019 12:36)

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item