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Historical Roots of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking

Steps Towards an Analogy

  • Book
  • © 2022

Overview

Authors:
  1. Rocco Gaudenzi

    1. MPI for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany

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  • Provides the first deep investigation on the heuristics of a foundational concept in contemporary physics
  • Presents important epistemological implications of the globalization of physical sciences
  • Shows how different sub-disciplines can have a beneficial influence on each other

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology (BRIEFSHIST)

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Table of contents (5 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
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  2. Introduction and a Few Words on the Methodology

    • Rocco Gaudenzi
    Pages 1-9

  3. Traits of an Emerging Tradition: Modern Physics in Japan

    • Rocco Gaudenzi
    Pages 11-45

  4. Yoichiro Nambu and the Collective Description of Many-particle Systems

    • Rocco Gaudenzi
    Pages 47-67

  5. Elementary Particles as Excitations of a Solid Medium. Is the Universe a Superconductor?

    • Rocco Gaudenzi
    Pages 69-112

  6. Historical and Epistemological Reflections

    • Rocco Gaudenzi
    Pages 113-131
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Keywords

About this book

What are the thinking processes and knowledge resources involved in a complex discovery? How can the physics of solids, the physics of nuclei, and elementary particle physics cross-fertilise in spite of the widely differing domains and energy scales they deal with? This book addresses the questions by reconstructing and examining from the historical epistemological perspective the fascinating heuristic path to the concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking. This analysis especially brings to light the role that analogical reasoning and mathematical reformulations played in the discovery process, as well as the influence of the Japanese milieu and approach to physical problems.

Authors and Affiliations

  • MPI for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany

    Rocco Gaudenzi

About the author

After a high-school degree in Classics, Rocco Gaudenzi earned his Master and Doctoral degree in physics at the ETH Zurich and the Delft University of Technology, publishing in the fields of solid-state physics, quantum magnetism and the thermodynamics of information processing. He has then moved on to do research on the conceptual dynamics, historical and philosophical dimensions of science. At the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin he carried out an investigation on the flow of concepts and formalisms between modern low-energy physics and high-energy physics, and the two-way analogical transfer of mathematical methods and theoretical frameworks.

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