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Broken Symmetry and Spacetime

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

David John Baker
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Abstract

The phenomenon of broken spacetime symmetry in the quantum theory of infinite systems seems to point toward an unorthodox ontology. The standard conception of the physical meaning of these symmetries, as changes in coordinates, conflicts with the apparent physical inequivalence of symmetry-related states. I argue that this apparent conflict is an artifact of a subtle error in the extant account of physical equivalence due to Halvorson and Clifton.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 78 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 128 - 148
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

Thanks (as usual) to Gordon Belot, Hans Halvorson, and Laura Ruetsche for many valuable comments and conversations. Thanks also to John Earman, Wayne Myrvold, and David Wallace for illuminating discussions of symmetry breaking as it relates to Wigner's theorem. Finally, I must recognize three excellent referees, one of whom in particular provided multiple pages of incisive comments.

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