E-Book Content
CRITIQUE
OF
PHYSICS
BY L L WHYTE
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD. BROADWAY HOUSH: 68-74 CARTER 1931
LANE.
B.C.
PRINTED J:lrf GREAT BRITAIN 9V RL\.DLEY BRoTIR.RS, I8 :OEVOJii'SillltB S'I'RU"'', LOND01111 JI:.C.2; .&ND ILSDl'OR.Dt D:trl'.
TO
LO'ITE
CONTENTS PAGE
ix
PREFACE QUOTATIONS FROM EINSTEIN, EDDINGTON AND
xi
HEISENBERG
CHAPTER I SPACE-TIME
§I.
I
INTRODUCTORY
§2.
UNITARY THEORY
5
§3.
THE STRUCTURE OF MEASURING RODS
8
§4. §S.
THE
§6.
THE UNIVERSAL LENGTHS IN QUANTUM PHYSICS
§7.
THE
KINEMATIC SIMILARITY IN CLASSICAL PHYSICS ABSENCE
OF
SIMILARITY
IN
PHYSICS
FOUR
UNIVERSAL
LENGTHS
IN
§9. §10.
17 21
UNITARY
24
THEORY
§8.
12
RELATIVITY
27
(Contd.)
MEASURING RODS CLOCKS
SPACE-TIME METRICAL COORDINATES
32 35
§II.
SPACE-TIME TOPOLOGICAL ORDER
40
§12.
METRIC AND ORDER IN PHYSICAL THEORY
§13.
COURSE CALCULUS
46 50
§14.
UNITARY COURSE THEORY
54
CHAPTER
II
COORDINATE THEORIES FROM THE STANDPOINT OF UNITARY COURSE THEORY
§15.
BASIC
§16. §17.
GENERAL FORM OF COORDINATE LAWS
58 62
SPECIAL AND GENERAL COVARIANCE
67
CONCEPTS
OF
COORDINATE
vii
THEORY
viii
CONTENTS PAGE
§18.
QUANTUM THEORY
§19.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF QUANTUM THEORY
70 76
§20.
SPECIAL QUANTUM-MECHANICAL PROBLEMS
83
§2I.
PARTICLES AND WAVES
8g
§22.
CLASSICAL, RELATIVITY, QUANTUM, AND UNITARY
§2J.
THE
g6
COURSE THEORY SIX
UNIVERSAL
§24.
SYMMETRIES
§25-
UNSOLVED PROBLEMS
§26.
SUMMARY
DIMENSIONAL
CONSTANTS
107
IN COORDINATE LAWS IN
101
COORDINATE
THEORY
II2 Il3
CHAPTER
III
GENERAL FEATURES OF UNITARY COURSE THEORY §27.
INTRODUCTORY
§28.
THE THREE NUMBERS
§29.
LOGIC, CONCEPT,
§30.
THE STRUCTURE OF UNITARY COURSE
§31.
SIMPLICITY IN PHYSICAL THEORY
128 130
II5 a,
{3,
y
OF
COORDINATE
THEORY
116 120
AND FACT THEORY
124
§32.
THE LIMITED COMPLEXITY OF NATURE
§33·
THE EXHAUSTION OF MICRO-ANALYSIS
132
§34·
GENERAL CONCEPTS OF NATURAL SCIENCE
136
§35·
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL SCIENCE
138
§36.
LINES FOR RESEARCH
142
§37·
CONCLUSION
145
NOTES REFERENCES APPENDIX A.
EINSTEIN
AND
THE
THEORY
OF
RELATIVITY APPENDIX B.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF QUANTUM THEORY
173 182
PREFACE THE completion of general relativity theory (Igi6) and of the general methods of quantum theory (1927) leaves physical theory in a situation of special interest since these theories lack an adequate common foundation and their interrela tions are still obscure. The Critique has been written in the belief that a revision of the fundamental concepts underlying both relativity theory and quantum theory is an essenti