Danne, Nicholas
(2020)
How to Make Reflectance a Surface Property.
Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 70.
pp. 19-27.
ISSN 1355-2198
Abstract
Reflectance physicalists define reflectance as the intrinsic disposition of a surface to reflect finite-duration light pulses at a particular efficiency per wavelength. I criticize the received view of dispositional reflectance (David R. Hilbert’s) as conceptually regressive, since it fails to account for the empirical law that I call “harmonic dispersion,” the inverse relationship of a pulse's duration to its bandwidth. To render reflectance intrinsic, I redefine it as the per-wavelength efficiency of a surface to reflect the infinite-duration, monochromatic, Fourier harmonics that superimpose into finite-duration pulses by the Fourier Transform. This conclusion raises questions about mathematical realism, about which I nevertheless remain neutral.
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