2,372 research outputs found
Do Goedel's incompleteness theorems set absolute limits on the ability of the brain to express and communicate mental concepts verifiably?
Classical interpretations of Goedel's formal reasoning imply that the truth
of some arithmetical propositions of any formal mathematical language, under
any interpretation, is essentially unverifiable. However, a language of
general, scientific, discourse cannot allow its mathematical propositions to be
interpreted ambiguously. Such a language must, therefore, define mathematical
truth verifiably. We consider a constructive interpretation of classical,
Tarskian, truth, and of Goedel's reasoning, under which any formal system of
Peano Arithmetic is verifiably complete. We show how some paradoxical concepts
of Quantum mechanics can be expressed, and interpreted, naturally under a
constructive definition of mathematical truth.Comment: 73 pages; this is an updated version of the NQ essay; an HTML version
is available at http://alixcomsi.com/Do_Goedel_incompleteness_theorems.ht
Risk, precaution and science: towards a more constructive policy debate. Talking point on the precautionary principle
Few issues in contemporary risk policy are as momentous or contentious as the precautionary principle. Since it first emerged in German environmental policy, it has been championed by environmentalists and consumer protection groups, and resisted by the industries they oppose (Raffensperger & Tickner, 1999). Various versions of the principle now proliferate across different national and international jurisdictions and policy areas (Fisher, 2002). From a guiding theme in European Commission (EC) environmental policy, it has become a general principle of EC law (CEC, 2000; Vos & Wendler, 2006). Its influence has extended from the regulation of environmental, technological and health risks to the wider governance of science, innovation and trade (O'Riordan & Cameron, 1994)
Computability and analysis: the legacy of Alan Turing
We discuss the legacy of Alan Turing and his impact on computability and
analysis.Comment: 49 page
Characterizing quantum theory in terms of information-theoretic constraints
We show that three fundamental information-theoretic constraints--the
impossibility of superluminal information transfer between two physical systems
by performing measurements on one of them, the impossibility of broadcasting
the information contained in an unknown physical state, and the impossibility
of unconditionally secure bit commitment--suffice to entail that the
observables and state space of a physical theory are quantum-mechanical. We
demonstrate the converse derivation in part, and consider the implications of
alternative answers to a remaining open question about nonlocality and bit
commitment.Comment: 25 pages, LaTe
Constructive Algebraic Topology
The classical ``computation'' methods in Algebraic Topology most often work
by means of highly infinite objects and in fact +are_not+ constructive. Typical
examples are shown to describe the nature of the problem. The Rubio-Sergeraert
solution for Constructive Algebraic Topology is recalled. This is not only a
theoretical solution: the concrete computer program +Kenzo+ has been written
down which precisely follows this method. This program has been used in various
cases, opening new research subjects and producing in several cases significant
results unreachable by hand. In particular the Kenzo program can compute the
first homotopy groups of a simply connected +arbitrary+ simplicial set.Comment: 24 pages, background paper for a plenary talk at the EACA Congress of
Tenerife, September 199
Computation in Economics
This is an attempt at a succinct survey, from methodological and epistemological perspectives, of the burgeoning, apparently unstructured, field of what is often – misleadingly – referred to as computational economics. We identify and characterise four frontier research fields, encompassing both micro and macro aspects of economic theory, where machine computation play crucial roles in formal modelling exercises: algorithmic behavioural economics, computable general equilibrium theory, agent based computational economics and computable economics. In some senses these four research frontiers raise, without resolving, many interesting methodological and epistemological issues in economic theorising in (alternative) mathematical modesClassical Behavioural Economics, Computable General Equilibrium theory, Agent Based Economics, Computable Economics, Computability, Constructivity, Numerical Analysis
Featureless and non-fractionalized Mott insulators on the honeycomb lattice at 1/2 site filling
Within the Landau paradigm, phases of matter are distinguished by spontaneous
symmetry breaking. Implicit here is the assumption that a completely symmetric
state exists: a paramagnet. At zero temperature such quantum featureless
insulators may be forbidden, triggering either conventional order or
topological order with fractionalized excitations. Such is the case for
interacting particles when the particle number per unit cell, f, is not an
integer. But, can lattice symmetries forbid featureless insulators even at
integer f? An especially relevant case is the honeycomb (graphene) lattice ---
where free spinless fermions at f=1 (the two sites per unit cell mean f=1 is
half filling per site) are always metallic. Here we present wave functions for
bosons, and a related spin-singlet wave function for spinful electrons, on the
f=1 honeycomb, and demonstrate via quantum to classical mappings that they do
form featureless Mott insulators. The construction generalizes to symmorphic
lattices at integer f in any dimension. Our results explicitly demonstrate that
in this case, despite the absence of a non-interacting insulator at the same
filling, lack of order at zero temperature does not imply fractionalization.Comment: v2: major revision including new result on SU(2) spinful electron
state and additional author. v3: PNAS published version. 7 pages, 5 figures;
appendix 5 pages, 3 figure
The Relationship of Arithmetic As Two Twin Peano Arithmetic(s) and Set Theory: A New Glance From the Theory of Information
The paper introduces and utilizes a few new concepts: “nonstandard Peano arithmetic”, “complementary Peano arithmetic”, “Hilbert arithmetic”. They identify the foundations of both mathematics and physics demonstrating the equivalence of the newly introduced Hilbert arithmetic and the separable complex Hilbert space of quantum mechanics in turn underlying physics and all the world. That new both mathematical and physical ground can be recognized as information complemented and generalized by quantum information. A few fundamental mathematical problems of the present such as Fermat’s last theorem, four-color theorem as well as its new-formulated generalization as “four-letter theorem”, Poincaré’s conjecture, “P vs NP” are considered over again, from and within the new-founding conceptual reference frame of information, as illustrations. Simple or crucially simplifying solutions and proofs are demonstrated. The link between the consistent completeness of the system mathematics-physics on the ground of information and all the great mathematical problems of the present (rather than the enumerated ones) is suggested
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