Papers by Elena Castellani
European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 2023
In the context of astrophysical modeling at the solar system scale, we investigate the modalities... more In the context of astrophysical modeling at the solar system scale, we investigate the modalities implied by taking into account different levels of detail at which phenomena can be considered. In particular, by framing the analysis in terms of the how-possibly/howactually distinction, we address the debated question as to whether the degree of plausibility is tightly linked to the degree of detail. On the grounds of concrete examples, we argue that, also in the astrophysical context examined, this is not necessarily the case.
Forthcoming, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 2023
This paper addresses the issue of the import of convergence arguments in theory assessment. A fir... more This paper addresses the issue of the import of convergence arguments in theory assessment. A first part is devoted to making the point of the different types of strategies based on convergence, providing new distinctions with respect to the existing literature. Specific attention is devoted to robustness vs consilience arguments and one representative example for each category is then discussed in some detail. These are: (a) Perrin's famous robustness argument on behalf of the atomic hypothesis on the grounds of the concordance of thirteen different procedures to the same result for the Avogadro number; (b) the consilience argument motivating the trust in the viability of the extra-dimension conjecture in the context of early string theory. These two cases are expressly chosen in order to highlight possible differences, also including whether the convergence obtains in terms of empirical or theoretical procedures. Notwithstanding these various differences, in both cases the evaluation of the assessment strategy similarly depends, in a significant way, on how the convergence argument is interpreted, as shown in the final part of the paper.
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 2022
Renormalization and Renormalization Group (RG) have proven to be very powerful tools in contempor... more Renormalization and Renormalization Group (RG) have proven to be very powerful tools in contemporary physics, with a decisive inuence on how to conceive of key physical aspects, including theories themselves. While they can be tackled from a variety of standpoints, this paper focuses on a specic philosophical issue, that is, which kind of explanation can be provided by means of RG methods. After a short, historical overview to set out the physical context, we scrutinize recent debates on the topic, with a particular focus on Morrison's seminal work. With respect to her account, where RG explanation is portrayed as mathematical, non-reductive, and non-causal, our focus is on the rst aspect. Our claim is that RG theory's explanatory role cannot reside exclusively in its mathematical character, independently from a physical interpretation: mathematical and physical features intersect in a highly non-trivial way to provide an explanation of physical phenomena.
The fact that no evidence of "new physics" was found so far by LHC experiments has led some to ca... more The fact that no evidence of "new physics" was found so far by LHC experiments has led some to call for the abandonment of the "naturalness" criterion. Others, on the contrary, have felt the need to break a lance in its defense by claiming that it should not be dismissed too quickly, but rather only reshaped to fit new needs.
In this paper we argue that present pro-or-contra naturalness debates often miss an important historical point: that naturalness is essentially a hazily defined notion which, in the course of more than four decades, has been steadily, and often not coherently, shaped by its interplay with different branches of model-building in high-energy physics and cosmology on the one side, and new experimental results on the other side. The paper endeavours to clear up some of the physical and philosophical haze by taking a closer look back at the origin of naturalness in the 1970s and ‘80s, with particular attention to the early work of Kenneth Wilson.
We argue that dualities offer new possibilities for relating fundamentality, levels, and emergenc... more We argue that dualities offer new possibilities for relating fundamentality, levels, and emergence. Namely, dualities often relate two theories whose hierarchies of levels are inverted relative to each other, and so allow for new fundamentality relations, as well as for epistemic emergence. We find that the direction of emergence typically found in these cases is opposite to the direction of emergence followed in the standard accounts. Namely, the standard emergence direction is that of decreasing fundamentality: there is emergence of less fundamental, high-level entities, out of more fundamental, low-level entities. But in cases of duality, a more fundamental entity can emerge out of a less fundamental one. This possibility can be traced back to the existence of different classical limits in quantum field theories and string theories.
This paper addresses the question as to whether the methodology followed in building/assessing st... more This paper addresses the question as to whether the methodology followed in building/assessing string theory can be considered scientific in the same sense, say, that the methodology followed in building/assessing the Standard Model of particle physics is scientific, by focussing on the "founding" period of the theory. More precisely, its aim is to argue for a positive answer to the above question – there is no real change of scientific status in the way of proceeding and reasoning in fundamental physical research – in the light of a historical analysis of the early developments of the string theoretical framework.
This is the introduction for a special issue on Dualities, to appear in Studies in the History an... more This is the introduction for a special issue on Dualities, to appear in Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics.
Is there more than one " Curie's principle " ? How far are di↵erent formulations legit-imate? Wha... more Is there more than one " Curie's principle " ? How far are di↵erent formulations legit-imate? What are the aspects that make it so scientifically fruitful, independently of how it is formulated? The paper is devoted to exploring these questions. We start with illustrating Curie's original 1894 article and his focus. Then, we consider the way that the discussion of the principle took shape from early commentators to its modern form. We say why we think that the modern focus on the interstate version of the principle loses sight of some of the most interesting significant applications of the principle. Finally, we address criticism of the principle put forward by Norton (2014) and purported counterexamples due to Roberts (2013, 2014).
Is there more that one " Curie's principle " ? How far are different formulations legit-imate? Wh... more Is there more that one " Curie's principle " ? How far are different formulations legit-imate? What are the aspects that make it so scientifically fruitful, independently of how it is formulated? The paper is devoted to exploring these questions. We start with illustrating Curie's original 1894 article and his focus. Then, we consider the way that the discussion of the principle took shape from early commentators to its modern form. We say why we think that the modern focus on the interstate version of the principle loses sight of some of the most interesting significant applications of the principle. Finally, we address criticism of the principle put forward by Norton (2014) and purported counterexamples due to Roberts (2013, 2014).
Weak/strong duality is usually accompanied by what seems a
puzzling ontological feature: the fact... more Weak/strong duality is usually accompanied by what seems a
puzzling ontological feature: the fact that under this kind of duality
what is viewed as 'elementary' in one description gets mapped to what is viewed as 'composite' in the dual description. This paper investigates the meaning of this apparent 'particle democracy', as it has been called, by adopting an historical approach. The aim is to clarify the nature of the correspondence between 'dual particles' in the light of an historical analysis of the developments of the idea of weak/strong duality, starting with Dirac's electric-magnetic duality and its successive generalizations in the context of (Abelian and non-Abelian) field theory, to arrive at its first extension to string theory. This analysis is then used as evidential basis for discussing the 'elementary/composite' divide and,
after taking another historical detour by analysing an instructive
analogy case (DHS duality and related nuclear democracy), drawing some conclusions on the particle-democracy issue.
Symmetry considerations dominate modern fundamental physics, both in quantum theory and in relati... more Symmetry considerations dominate modern fundamental physics, both in quantum theory and in relativity. This book presents a collection of new philosophy of physics papers, set in the context of extracts from seminal works by both physicists and philosophers. It covers topical issues such as the significance of gauge symmetry, particle identity in quantum theory, how to make sense of parity violation, the role of symmetry breaking, and the empirical status of symmetry principles. These issues relate directly to more traditional problems in the philosophy of science, including the status of the laws of nature, the relationships between mathematics, physical theory, and the world, and the extent to which mathematics dictates physics. The book is structured into four parts, each with classic texts, review papers, and discussion papers that survey the current situation in the literature and highlight the main issues and controversies. Its aim is to provide a general picture of the current debate, along with a context and framework for future discussion and research in this field. Suitable for courses on the foundations of physics, philosophy of physics, and philosophy of science, it is also a valuable reference for students and researchers in both physics and philosophy.
In recent years, a ''change in attitude'' in particle physics has led to our understanding curren... more In recent years, a ''change in attitude'' in particle physics has led to our understanding current quantum field theories as effective field theories (EFTs). The present paper is concerned with the significance of this EFT approach, especially from the viewpoint of the debate on reductionism in science. In particular, I shall show how EFTs provide a new and interesting case study in current philosophical discussion on reduction, emergence, and inter-level relationships in general. r
International Journal of Theoretical Physics, 2004
We examine the relevance of Dirac's view on the use of transformation theory and invariants in mo... more We examine the relevance of Dirac's view on the use of transformation theory and invariants in modern physics to current reflections on the meaning of physical symmetries, especially gauge symmetries.
As other contributions to this volume also testify, the notions of symmetry and equivalence are c... more As other contributions to this volume also testify, the notions of symmetry and equivalence are closely connected. This paper is devoted to exploring this connection and its relevance to the symmetry issue, starting from its historical roots. In fact, it emerges as an essential and constant feature in the evolution of the modern notion of symmetry: at the beginning, as a specific relation between symmetry and equality; in the end, as a general link between the notions of symmetry, equivalence class, and transformation group.
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Papers by Elena Castellani
In this paper we argue that present pro-or-contra naturalness debates often miss an important historical point: that naturalness is essentially a hazily defined notion which, in the course of more than four decades, has been steadily, and often not coherently, shaped by its interplay with different branches of model-building in high-energy physics and cosmology on the one side, and new experimental results on the other side. The paper endeavours to clear up some of the physical and philosophical haze by taking a closer look back at the origin of naturalness in the 1970s and ‘80s, with particular attention to the early work of Kenneth Wilson.
puzzling ontological feature: the fact that under this kind of duality
what is viewed as 'elementary' in one description gets mapped to what is viewed as 'composite' in the dual description. This paper investigates the meaning of this apparent 'particle democracy', as it has been called, by adopting an historical approach. The aim is to clarify the nature of the correspondence between 'dual particles' in the light of an historical analysis of the developments of the idea of weak/strong duality, starting with Dirac's electric-magnetic duality and its successive generalizations in the context of (Abelian and non-Abelian) field theory, to arrive at its first extension to string theory. This analysis is then used as evidential basis for discussing the 'elementary/composite' divide and,
after taking another historical detour by analysing an instructive
analogy case (DHS duality and related nuclear democracy), drawing some conclusions on the particle-democracy issue.
In this paper we argue that present pro-or-contra naturalness debates often miss an important historical point: that naturalness is essentially a hazily defined notion which, in the course of more than four decades, has been steadily, and often not coherently, shaped by its interplay with different branches of model-building in high-energy physics and cosmology on the one side, and new experimental results on the other side. The paper endeavours to clear up some of the physical and philosophical haze by taking a closer look back at the origin of naturalness in the 1970s and ‘80s, with particular attention to the early work of Kenneth Wilson.
puzzling ontological feature: the fact that under this kind of duality
what is viewed as 'elementary' in one description gets mapped to what is viewed as 'composite' in the dual description. This paper investigates the meaning of this apparent 'particle democracy', as it has been called, by adopting an historical approach. The aim is to clarify the nature of the correspondence between 'dual particles' in the light of an historical analysis of the developments of the idea of weak/strong duality, starting with Dirac's electric-magnetic duality and its successive generalizations in the context of (Abelian and non-Abelian) field theory, to arrive at its first extension to string theory. This analysis is then used as evidential basis for discussing the 'elementary/composite' divide and,
after taking another historical detour by analysing an instructive
analogy case (DHS duality and related nuclear democracy), drawing some conclusions on the particle-democracy issue.
In this paper we argue that present pro-or-contra naturalness debates often miss an important historical point: that naturalness is essentially a hazily defined notion which, in the course of more than four decades, has been steadily, and often not coherently, shaped by its interplay with different branches of model-building in high-energy physics and cosmology on the one side, and new experimental results on the other side. The paper endeavours to clear up some of the physical and philosophical haze by taking a closer look back at the origin of naturalness in the 1970s and ‘80s, with particular attention to the early work of Kenneth Wilson.