Atoms of Matter and Energy

2020 ◽  
pp. 120-134
Author(s):  
Demetris Nicolaides
Keyword(s):  
Empty Space ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Elementary Particles ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Scientific Achievement ◽  
Atomic Theory ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
Actual Meaning ◽  
Controversial Concept

Perhaps the greatest scientific achievement of antiquity, possibly of all time, was the realization of the atomic nature of matter. “There are but atoms and the void,” Democritus proposed. And he understood the great diversity of material objects as complex aggregations of uncuttable atoms, the building blocks of matter, moving in the void, the empty space between them. Leucippus invented the atomic theory, and Democritus, a true polymath and a prolific philosopher, developed it extensively. Uncuttable (the actual meaning of atom in Greek) are also the modern elementary particles of matter, the quarks and leptons, and although void is a controversial concept still, a kind of void is required to explain nature. Leucippus’s and Democritus’s notion of indivisible (atomic), discrete particles without substructure has endured and, according to modern physics, is still one of the most remarkable properties of nature. Could space and time have an atomic nature, too?

Seeing Depicted Space (Or Not)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikael Pettersson
Keyword(s):  
Empty Space ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Pictorial Perception ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Pictorial Experience ◽  
The Way

What is it to see something in a picture? Most accounts of pictorial experience—or, to use Richard Wollheim's term, ‘seeing-in’—seek, in various ways, to explain it in terms of how pictures somehow display the looks of things. However, some ‘things’ that we apparently see in pictures do not display any ‘look’. In particular, most pictures depict empty space, but empty space does not seem to display any ‘look’—at least not in the way material objects do. How do we see it in pictures, if we do? This chapter offers an account of pictorial perception of empty space by elaborating on Wollheim's claim that ‘seeing-in’ is permeable to thought. It ends by pointing to the aesthetic relevance of seeing—or not seeing—empty space in pictures.

scholarly journals Harmonic Brain Modes: A Unifying Framework for Linking Space and Time in Brain Dynamics

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selen Atasoy ◽  
Gustavo Deco ◽  
Morten L. Kringelbach ◽  
Joel Pearson
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Structural Connectivity ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Brain Dynamics ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Brain

A fundamental characteristic of spontaneous brain activity is coherent oscillations covering a wide range of frequencies. Interestingly, these temporal oscillations are highly correlated among spatially distributed cortical areas forming structured correlation patterns known as the resting state networks, although the brain is never truly at “rest.” Here, we introduce the concept of harmonic brain modes—fundamental building blocks of complex spatiotemporal patterns of neural activity. We define these elementary harmonic brain modes as harmonic modes of structural connectivity; that is, connectome harmonics, yielding fully synchronous neural activity patterns with different frequency oscillations emerging on and constrained by the particular structure of the brain. Hence, this particular definition implicitly links the hitherto poorly understood dimensions of space and time in brain dynamics and its underlying anatomy. Further we show how harmonic brain modes can explain the relationship between neurophysiological, temporal, and network-level changes in the brain across different mental states ( wakefulness, sleep, anesthesia, psychedelic). Notably, when decoded as activation of connectome harmonics, spatial and temporal characteristics of neural activity naturally emerge from the interplay between excitation and inhibition and this critical relation fits the spatial, temporal, and neurophysiological changes associated with different mental states. Thus, the introduced framework of harmonic brain modes not only establishes a relation between the spatial structure of correlation patterns and temporal oscillations (linking space and time in brain dynamics), but also enables a new dimension of tools for understanding fundamental principles underlying brain dynamics in different states of consciousness.

Elementary Particles of Modern Physics

Science ◽  
1960 ◽  
Vol 132 (3422) ◽  
pp. 269-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Marshak
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Particles ◽  
Modern Physics

11. Change

2000 ◽  
pp. 75-82
Author(s):  
Jonathan Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Empty Space ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Infinitely Divisible ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Nature Of Time ◽  
Types Of Change

Unlike Plato’s Forms, which are eternal and unchanging, Aristotle’s substances are temporary and undergo alterations. Aristotle considered there to be four types of change: in respect of substance, quality, quantity, and place. These are generation or destruction; alteration; growth and diminution; and motion, respectively. Most of the Physics is devoted to change in its different forms. Change takes place in time and space, and the Physics offers intricate theories about the nature of time, of place, and of empty space. Since space and time are infinitely divisible, Aristotle analyses the notion of infinity. He also discusses a number of particular problems concerning the relation of motion to time.

scholarly journals The place of elementary particle research in the development of modern physics

1964 ◽  
Vol 278 (1374) ◽  
pp. 290-302 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Particle ◽  
Atomic Physics ◽  
Nuclear Physics ◽  
High Energy Physics ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Elementary Particles ◽  
Atomic Nuclei ◽  
Protons And Neutrons ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
Energy Physics

The search for elementary particles is as old as science itself. It is always the most advanced part of physics which strives for an understanding of the fundamental constituents of matter. As physics progressed, the search for elementary particles moved on from chemistry to atomic physics, and then to nuclear physics. Not much more than a decade ago it separated from nuclear physics and became a new field, dealing no longer with the structure of atomic nuclei but with the structure of the constituents of nuclei, the protons and neutrons, and also with the structure of electrons and similar particles. This field is often referred to as high-energy physics because in it beams of particles of extremely high energy are needed for most of the relevant experiments. The purpose of this article is to present a bird’s-eye view of the new aspects which elementary particle research has recently created and to show how they fit into the framework of physics of this century.

scholarly journals Atoms, quanta, and qubits: Atomism in quantum mechanics and information

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasil Penchev
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Information ◽  
Elementary Particles ◽  
Planck Constant ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
Conceptual Shift

The original conception of atomism suggests “atoms”, which cannot be divided more into composing parts. However, the name “atom” in physics is reserved for entities, which can be divided into electrons, protons, neutrons and other “elementary particles”, some of which are in turn compounded by other, “more elementary” ones. Instead of this, quantum mechanics is grounded on the actually indivisible quanta of action limited by the fundamental Planck constant. It resolves the problem of how both discrete and continuous (even smooth) to be described uniformly and invariantly in thus. Quantum mechanics can be interpreted in terms of quantum information. Qubit is the indivisible unit (“atom”) of quantum information. The imagery of atomism in modern physics moves from atoms of matter (or energy) via “atoms” (quanta) of action to “atoms” (qubits) of quantum information. This is a conceptual shift in the cognition of reality to terms of information, choice, and time

scholarly journals Fundamentality and Conditionality of Existence

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Sahana Rajan
Keyword(s):  
Object Oriented ◽  
Elementary Particles ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Modern Physics

In metaphysics, fundamentality is a central theme involving debates on the nature of existents, as wholes. These debates are largely object-oriented in their standpoint and engage with composites or wholes through the mereological notion of compositionality. The ontological significance of the parts overrides that of wholes since the existence and identity of the latter are dependent on that of the former. Broadly, the candidates for fundamental entities are considered to be elementary particles of modern physics (since they appear to play the role of ultimate parts to all phenomena). The paper intends to show the inadequacy of the object-oriented notion of conditionality by pointing out that the parts and wholes possess varying conditions of existence. By alleging that only the parts are ontologically significant is to conflate such conditions and neglect the spectrum of conditions which exist in our world. A proposal for a revised notion of compositionality in terms of structural relatedness is also put forward.

scholarly journals ON THE SPECIAL MEMORY EXISTENCE OF MATERIAL OBJECTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (11(80)) ◽  
pp. 73-77
Author(s):  
S. Vasilief
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Particles ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Entangled States ◽  
Entangled State ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Material Characteristics ◽  
Scientific Justification ◽  
History Of ◽  
Harmful Effects

The investigation have revealed informational non-identity of the materially identical elementary particles. The investigation of the reasons for this fact and entangled states have showed the following. Material objects (MO), macroscopic and microscopic, besides their material memory, also have the special non-material memory. This memory does not manifest itself in any way in the material characteristics of objects and remains a hidden memory, from the point of view of science, which deals only with MO and only with material characteristics of objects. This memory contains information about the origin and existence history of MO. For the origin of a distinct entangled state of different MOs, an “almost exact” coincidence of these stories is necessary, which has been many times confirmed by experiments. There is a logically consistent, scientific justification of the possibility for treatment and harmful effects compensation by the information actions. From the foregoing, the principles of innovative investigations and technologies follows.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document