Tian Cao - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Tian Cao

Modern Physics Letters A

The creation of QCD is one of greatest achievements in the history of science. It has radically c... more The creation of QCD is one of greatest achievements in the history of science. It has radically changed our conception of the fundamental ontology of the physical world and its underlying dynamics. What it has discovered are more than new particles and a new force, but rather a deeper level of physical reality, a new kind of entities. Dynamically, the strong nuclear forces are no longer taken to be fundamental, but are relegated to the status of the un-cancelled residue of far stronger long range force mediated by gluon. From a long term perspective, perhaps more important than these discoveries is that it breaks a new path to explore many novel features of an unknown layer of the physical world, such as instanton, the theta vacuum and effective energy. The notion of effective energy allows us to conceptualize the mysterious quantum number flow and hadronization. Although the metaphysical status of effective energy is not quite clear at this moment, but a window is open for conceptu...

Conceptual Foundations of Quantum Field Theory, 1999

ABSTRACT From the text: Generally speaking, philosophers are interested in the metaphysical assum... more ABSTRACT From the text: Generally speaking, philosophers are interested in the metaphysical assumptions adopted by science and the world picture suggested by science. They are also interested in understanding the successes, failures and significant changes that have happened in science, in terms of its ontology and theoretical structure. Thus it is natural for philosophers to be interested in examining various scientific theories from these angles.

ABSTRACT From the text: Quantum field theory (QFT) is a powerful language for describing the suba... more ABSTRACT From the text: Quantum field theory (QFT) is a powerful language for describing the subatomic constituents of the physical world (quarks, leptons, gauge bosons, Higgs scalars, and so on) and the laws and principles that govern them. Not only has it provided a framework for understanding the hierarchical structure that can be built from these constituents, it has also profoundly influenced the development of contemporary cosmology and deeply penetrated into the current conception and imagination of the origin and evolution of the universe. For this reason, it has justifiably long been taken to be the foundation of fundamental physics: elementary particle physics and cosmology.

Advances in Cognitive Neurodynamics ICCN 2007, 2008

Conceptual foundations of quantum field theory, 1999

ABSTRACT About today’s topic, the meaning of the renormalization group, I have heard in the past ... more ABSTRACT About today’s topic, the meaning of the renormalization group, I have heard in the past any possible disagreement between physicists; in condensed matter and much more in field theory. It is or it is not fundamental. In spite of the empirical success of today’s theories, which lead to Nobel prizes and all that, physicists are confused about the meaning of some aspects of these theories. More often than not, different physicists hold contradictory views on the actual meaning of the renormalization group. I would simply like to correct the impression that might have emerged from yesterday and today’s discussion, that physicists know exactly what is going on in their theories, or that everybody agrees. And I want to tell physicists: if we are interested in knowledge, wouldn’t it be more productive to fully display our confusion and our disagreements?

Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 1995

Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 2007

From Current Algebra to Quantum Chromodynamics, 2010

ABSTRACT 1. Introduction; 2. The rise of current algebra (CA); 3. Sum rules; 4. Saturation and cl... more ABSTRACT 1. Introduction; 2. The rise of current algebra (CA); 3. Sum rules; 4. Saturation and closure; 5. Scaling; 6. Theorizations of scaling; 7. The advent of quantum chromodynamics (QCD); 8. Early justifications and explorations; 9. Structural realism and the construction of QCD; 10. Historiographical issues in the CA-QCD narrative.

Synthese, 1993

Page 1. TIAN YU CAO AND SILVAN S. SCHWEBER THE CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS AND THE PHILOSOPHICAL ASPEC... more Page 1. TIAN YU CAO AND SILVAN S. SCHWEBER THE CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS AND THE PHILOSOPHICAL ASPECTS OF RENORMALIZATION THEORY* 1. INTRODUCTION ... Page 8. 40 TIAN YU CAO AND SILVAN S. SCHWEBER ...

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 2001

ABSTRACT An ontological approach to the analysis of conceptual frameworks of physical theories is... more ABSTRACT An ontological approach to the analysis of conceptual frameworks of physical theories is introduced and then applied to the case of quantum gravity. The tension between the theoretical constraints posed, respectively, by general relativity and quantum field theory, is analysed. A possible solution to the difficulties created by the tension, based on the notion of ontological synthesis, is suggested.

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 1999

ABSTRACT The Casimir force between two neutral metallic plates is often considered conclusive evi... more ABSTRACT The Casimir force between two neutral metallic plates is often considered conclusive evidence for the reality of electromagnetic zero-point fluctuations in ‘empty space’ (i.e. in absence of any boundaries). However, it is not well known that the Casimir force can be derived from many different points of view. The purpose of this note is to supply a conceptually oriented introduction to a representative set of these different interpretations. The different accounts suggest that the Casimir effect reveals nothing conclusive about the nature of the vacuum.

Solid State Communications, 2008