Gomori, Marton and Szabo, Laszlo E. (2017) On the Persistence of the Electromagnetic Field. [Preprint]
|
Text
MG-LESz-persistence-2017.pdf Download (306kB) | Preview |
Abstract
According to the standard realistic interpretation of classical electrodynamics, the electromagnetic field is conceived as a real physical entity existing in space and time. The problem we address in this paper is how to understand this spatiotemporal existence, that is, how to describe the persistence of a field-like physical entity like electromagnetic field. First, we provide a formal description of the notion of persistence: we derive an “equation of persistence” constituting a necessary condition that the spatiotemporal distributions of the fundamental attributes of a persisting physical entity must satisfy. We then prove a theorem according to which the vast majority of the solutions of Maxwell's equations, describing possible spatiotemporal distributions of the fundamental attributes of the electromagnetic field, violate the equation of persistence. Finally, we discuss the consequences of this result for the ontology of the electromagnetic field.
| Export/Citation: | EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL |
| Social Networking: |
| Item Type: | Preprint | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creators: |
|
|||||||||
| Keywords: | classical electrodynamics; Maxwell's equations; persistence; velocity; physical entity | |||||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Fields and Particles |
|||||||||
| Depositing User: | Prof. Laszlo E. Szabo | |||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 03 Feb 2017 15:38 | |||||||||
| Last Modified: | 03 Feb 2017 15:38 | |||||||||
| Item ID: | 12785 | |||||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Fields and Particles |
|||||||||
| Date: | 31 January 2017 | |||||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/12785 |
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[feed]](http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/style/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}