‘In the Light of Leibniz and Lucretius’: An Encounter between Deleuze and New Materialism

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 497-522
Author(s):  
Hanjo Berressem
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Quantum Field ◽  
Virtual Particles ◽  
Continuity And Discontinuity

While most new materialists, including Thomas Nail, tend to distance themselves from Deleuze, this essay reads the encounter of Nail's ‘process materialism’ and Deleuzian philosophy as productive rather than contentious. After tracing the affinities of their notions of continuity and discontinuity by way of Deleuze's The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque and Nail's Lucretius I: An Ontology of Motion and Being and Motion, the essay considers Nail's unfolding of Lucretius’ luminous philosophy in relation to Deleuze's reading of Lucretius from within Deleuze's own ‘philosophical luminism’. Within the multiple overlaps between Nail and Deleuze, particularly vis-à-vis quantum physics and quantum field theory, their divergent readings of the particle–wave duality bring about a productive conceptual tension. Nail's argument about the ontological precedence of waves over particles (‘process precedes existence’) is illuminated by Deleuze's concept of their ontological complementarity (actual particles and virtual waves, virtual particles and actual waves), and vice versa.

scholarly journals Diagrammar of physical and fake particles and spectral optical theorem

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Damiano Anselmi
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Field Theory ◽  
Field Theories ◽  
Optical Theorem ◽  
Quantum Field Theories ◽  
Quantum Field ◽  
Virtual Particles ◽  
Major Significance ◽  
Algebraic Operations

Abstract We prove spectral optical identities in quantum field theories of physical particles (defined by the Feynman iϵ prescription) and purely virtual particles (defined by the fakeon prescription). The identities are derived by means of purely algebraic operations and hold for every (multi)threshold separately and for arbitrary frequencies. Their major significance is that they offer a deeper understanding on the problem of unitarity in quantum field theory. In particular, they apply to “skeleton” diagrams, before integrating on the space components of the loop momenta and the phase spaces. In turn, the skeleton diagrams obey a spectral optical theorem, which gives the usual optical theorem for amplitudes, once the integrals on the space components of the loop momenta and the phase spaces are restored. The fakeon prescription/projection is implemented by dropping the thresholds that involve fakeon frequencies. We give examples at one loop (bubble, triangle, box, pentagon and hexagon), two loops (triangle with “diagonal”, box with diagonal) and arbitrarily many loops. We also derive formulas for the loop integrals with fakeons and relate them to the known formulas for the loop integrals with physical particles.

scholarly journals El significado filosófico de la teoría cuántica de campos

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael A. Alemañ Berenguer
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Field Theory ◽  
Physical Science ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Quantum Field ◽  
Basic Properties ◽  
Global Understanding ◽  
Conceptual Foundations ◽  
Theory Unification ◽  
Unification Of Forces

ResumenLos abundantes análisis filosóficos sobre la física cuántica no se han visto en general acompa- ñados por una consideración equiparable hacia su prolongación natural en la teoría cuántica de campos. Esta teoría se ha revelado en su versión electromagnética como una de las herramientas predictivas más precisas de la ciencia física. No obstante, sus cimientos conceptuales siguen siendo altamente controvertidos y cabe dudar si una ampliación de su formalismo conducirá a la tan deseada unificación de las fuerzas fundamentales, y por ende, a una comprensión global de las propiedades básicas de la naturaleza.Palabras claveFilosofía de la física, teoría cuántica de campos, unificación de fuerzas, predicciónAbstractThe abundant philosophical analyses on quantum physics have not been generally followed by an equivalent consideration toward their natural continuation in the quantum field theory. This theory is regarded in its electromagnetic version as one of the best predictive tools in physical science. Nevertheless, its conceptual foundations are still surrounded by controversy and it is doubtful if an extension of its formalism will lead us to the unification of the four basic forces, and therefore to a global understanding of the basic properties of nature.KeywordsPhilosophy of physics, quantum field theory, unification of forces, prediction

Quantum Field Theory, Quantum Physics and Micro-Macro Duality

10.1142/10941 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Izumi Ojima ◽  
Kazuya Okamura ◽  
Hayato Saigo
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Quantum Field

scholarly journals GRAVITATIONAL RENORMALIZATION OF QUANTUM FIELD THEORY

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (32) ◽  
pp. 1250186 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERTO CASADIO
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Field Theory ◽  
Scalar Field ◽  
Feynman Graph ◽  
The Other ◽  
Quantum Field ◽  
High Momentum ◽  
Feynman Propagator ◽  
Virtual Particle ◽  
Virtual Particles

We propose to include gravity in quantum field theory nonperturbatively, by modifying the propagators so that each virtual particle in a Feynman graph move in the space–time determined by the four-momenta of the other particles in the same graph. By making additional working assumptions, we are able to put this idea at work in a simplified context, and obtain a modified Feynman propagator for the massless neutral scalar field. Our expression shows a suppression at high momentum, strong enough to entail finite results, to all loop orders, for processes involving at least two virtual particles.

scholarly journals Foundations of fundamental mechanics (1)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Blommaert ◽  
Michael Appleby
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Field Theory ◽  
General Theory ◽  
Potential Field ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Space Time ◽  
Quantum Field ◽  
Theory Of Relativity ◽  
General Theory Of Relativity

The following paper presents a description on the fundamental mechanics of nature.This is the first of a set of papers entitled Foundations of fundamental mechanics, in which this first paper is specifically on the nature of gravity.For all intents and purposes this paper is NOT intended to be a replacement for the General theory of Relativity (GR) (A. Einstein 1915–1916), rather it is intended to be a complimentary extension of its work, with the purpose of extending it into quantum physics. Most notably, to relate it to quantum field theory (QFT), by quantizing the metric of space-time into a potential field theory.

scholarly journals Birth and development of quantum physics: a transdisciplinary approach

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Di Sia
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Quantum Field ◽  
Transdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Copernican Revolution ◽  
Science Philosophy ◽  
Quantum Revolution ◽  
The Way

The last century has been a period of extreme interest for scientific research, marked by the overcoming of the classical frontiers of scientific knowledge.Research oriented towards the infinitely small and infinitely big, in both cases beyondthe borders of the visible. Quantum physics has led to a new Copernican revolution,opening the way to new questions that have led to a new view of reality. At the sametime, new theories have developed, involving every field of science, philosophy and art, rediscovering the link between unity and totality and the importance of humanpotential. In a transdisciplinary approach we consider quantum field theory, new ideason the concepts of vacuum and entanglement, metaphysical aspects of quantum revolution and the introduction of different interpretative approaches on the “Whole”.

Scientific Realism and the Quantum

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Scientific Realism ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Quantum Field ◽  
Third Way ◽  
The World ◽  
Modern Physics

Scientific realism has traditionally maintained that our best scientific theories can be regarded as more or less true and as representing the world as it is (more or less). However, one of our very best current theories—quantum mechanics—has famously resisted such a realist construal, threatening to undermine the realist stance altogether. The chapters in this volume carefully examine this tension and the reasons behind it, including the underdetermination generated by the multiplicity of formulations and interpretations of quantum physics, each presenting a different way the world could be. Authors in this volume offer a range of alternative ways forward: some suggest new articulations of realism, limiting our commitments in one way or another; others attempt to articulate a ‘third way’ between traditional forms of realism and antirealism, or are critical of such attempts. Still others argue that quantum theory itself should be reconceptualised, or at least alternative formulations should be considered in the hope of evading the problems faced by realism. And some examine the nature of these issues when moving beyond quantum mechanics to quantum field theory. Taken together they offer an exciting new set of perspectives on one of the most fundamental questions in the philosophy of modern physics: how can one be a realist about quantum theory, and what does this realism amount to?

Chaosmologies: Quantum Field Theory, Chaos and Thought in Deleuze and Guattari's What is Philosophy?

Paragraph ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arkady Plotnitsky
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Particle Formation ◽  
Quantum Field ◽  
Deleuze And Guattari ◽  
Dominant Form ◽  
Virtual Particle ◽  
Philosophical Foundations

This article explores the relationships between the philosophical foundations of quantum field theory, the currently dominant form of quantum physics, and Deleuze's concept of the virtual, most especially in relation to the idea of chaos found in Deleuze and Guattari's What is Philosophy?. Deleuze and Guattari appear to derive this idea partly from the philosophical conceptuality of quantum field theory, in particular the concept of virtual particle formation. The article then goes on to discuss, from this perspective, the relationships between philosophy and science, and between their respective ways of confronting chaos, a great enemy but also a great friend of thought, and its greatest ally in its struggle against opinion.

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