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Naturalness and Emergence

Wallace, David (2019) Naturalness and Emergence. [Preprint]

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Abstract

I develop an account of naturalness (that is, approximately: lack of extreme fine-tuning) in physics which demonstrates that naturalness assumptions are not restricted to narrow cases in high-energy physics but are a ubiquitous part of inter-level relations are derived in physics. After exploring how and to what extent we might justify such assumptions on methodological grounds or through appeal to speculative future physics, I consider the apparent failure of naturalness in cosmology and in the Standard Model. I argue that any such naturalness failure threatens to undermine the entire structure of our understanding of inter-theoretic reduction, and so risks a much larger crisis in physics than is sometimes suggested; I briefly review some currently-popular strategies that might avoid that crisis.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Wallace, David
Keywords: naturalness cosmology emergence fine-tuning cosmological constant higgs boson standard model hierarchy problem statistical mechanics
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Cosmology
Specific Sciences > Physics > Fields and Particles
Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory
General Issues > Reductionism/Holism
Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics
Depositing User: Professor David Wallace
Date Deposited: 21 Feb 2019 14:27
Last Modified: 21 Feb 2019 14:27
Item ID: 15757
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Cosmology
Specific Sciences > Physics > Fields and Particles
Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory
General Issues > Reductionism/Holism
Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics
Date: February 2019
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/15757

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