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World Theory

Stoica, Ovidiu Cristinel (2021) World Theory. [Preprint]

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Abstract

In general, a physical theory is based on some fundamental principles concerning space, time, matter, and the laws prescribing how matter is distributed in space and how it evolves in time, and even how spacetime itself changes in response to the changes of matter.

The spectrum of the known theories is very diverse, since they are based on different assumptions. Some theories assume that space and time are totally independent, some that they are warped in a continuum named "spacetime", and some even that there are more dimensions than the usual 3+1. Most theories consider that space and time are continuous, but many recent theories consider them to be discrete. Most dynamical laws of fundamental Physics are deterministic, but apparently Quantum Mechanics shows that they may have an indeterministic component.

Despite these distinctions between various theories, our intuition and experience tells us that they have a lot in common. In this paper I will try to capture the common features in a single mathematical structure. This is not a Theory of Everything, but only a mathematical structure which is common to most physical theories known so far. We will see that these theories can be obtained as particular cases of this structure, which I will call "world". In particular, the worlds described by the Classical Mechanics, the Theory of Relativity and the Quantum Mechanics are examples of worlds according to this definition, but also some theories attempting to unify gravity and QM, like String Theory.

The purpose of this distillation is to provide a mathematical common background to both physical and metaphysical discussions about the various theories of the World.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Stoica, Ovidiu Cristinelholotronix@gmail.com0000-0002-2765-1562
Keywords: physical law, sheaf theory, fiber bundles, dynamical systems
Subjects: General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics
General Issues > Causation
Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics
Specific Sciences > Physics > Fields and Particles
General Issues > Laws of Nature
General Issues > Models and Idealization
Specific Sciences > Physics
Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory
Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
General Issues > Reductionism/Holism
Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
General Issues > Structure of Theories
Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
General Issues > Theory/Observation
Depositing User: Ovidiu Cristinel Stoica
Date Deposited: 19 Aug 2021 13:53
Last Modified: 19 Aug 2021 13:53
Item ID: 19466
Subjects: General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics
General Issues > Causation
Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics
Specific Sciences > Physics > Fields and Particles
General Issues > Laws of Nature
General Issues > Models and Idealization
Specific Sciences > Physics
Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory
Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
General Issues > Reductionism/Holism
Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
General Issues > Structure of Theories
Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
General Issues > Theory/Observation
Date: 18 August 2021
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/19466

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