1,044 research outputs found
Philosophy and Science in Leibniz
This paper explores the question of Leibnizâs contribution to the rise of modern âscienceâ. To be sure, it is now generally agreed that the modern category of âscienceâ did not exist in the early modern period. At the same time, this period witnessed a very important stage in the process from which modern science eventually emerged. My discussion will be aimed at uncovering the new enterprise, and the new distinctions which were taking shape in the early modern period under the banner of the old Aristotelian terminology. I will argue that Leibniz begins to theorize a distinction between physics and metaphysics that tracks our distinction between the autonomous enterprise of science in its modern meaning, and the enterprise of philosophy. I will try to show that, for Leibniz, physics proper is the study of natural phenomena in mathematical and mechanical terms without recourse for its explanations to metaphysical notions. This autonomy, however, does not imply for Leibniz that physics can say on its own all that there is to be said about the natural world. Quite the opposite. Leibniz inherits from the Aristotelian tradition the view that physics needs metaphysical roots or a metaphysical grounding. For Leibniz, what is ultimately real is reached by metaphysics, not by physics. This is, in my view, Leibnizâs chief insight: the new mathematical physics is an autonomous enterprise which offers its own kind of explanations but does not exhaust what can (and should) be said about the natural world
Future Precision Neutrino Oscillation Experiments and Theoretical Implications
Future neutrino oscillation experiments will lead to precision measurements
of neutrino mass splittings and mixings. The flavour structure of the lepton
sector will therefore at some point become better known than that of the quark
sector. This article discusses the potential of future oscillation experiments
on the basis of detailed simulations with an emphasis on experiments which can
be done in about ten years. In addition, some theoretical implications for
neutrino mass models will be briefly discussed.Comment: Talk given at Nobel Symposium 2004: Neutrino Physics, Haga Slott,
Enkoping, Sweden, 19-24 Aug 200
Teleology and Realism in Leibniz's Philosophy of Science
This paper argues for an interpretation of Leibnizâs claim that physics requires both mechanical and teleological principles as a view regarding the interpretation of physical theories. Granting that Leibnizâs fundamental ontology remains non-physical, or mentalistic, it argues that teleological principles nevertheless ground a realist commitment about mechanical descriptions of phenomena. The empirical results of the new sciences, according to Leibniz, have genuine truth conditions: there is a fact of the matter about the regularities observed in experience. Taking this stance, however, requires bringing non-empirical reasons to bear upon mechanical causal claims. This paper first evaluates extant interpretations of Leibnizâs thesis that there are two realms in physics as describing parallel, self-sufficient sets of laws. It then examines Leibnizâs use of teleological principles to interpret scientific results in the context of his interventions in debates in seventeenth-century kinematic theory, and in the teaching of Copernicanism. Leibnizâs use of the principle of continuity and the principle of simplicity, for instance, reveal an underlying commitment to the truth-aptness, or approximate truth-aptness, of the new natural sciences. The paper concludes with a brief remark on the relation between metaphysics, theology, and physics in Leibniz
The LBNO long-baseline oscillation sensitivities with two conventional neutrino beams at different baselines
The proposed Long Baseline Neutrino Observatory (LBNO) initially consists of
kton liquid double phase TPC complemented by a magnetised iron
calorimeter, to be installed at the Pyh\"asalmi mine, at a distance of 2300 km
from CERN. The conventional neutrino beam is produced by 400 GeV protons
accelerated at the SPS accelerator delivering 700 kW of power. The long
baseline provides a unique opportunity to study neutrino flavour oscillations
over their 1st and 2nd oscillation maxima exploring the behaviour, and
distinguishing effects arising from and matter. In this paper we
show how this comprehensive physics case can be further enhanced and
complemented if a neutrino beam produced at the Protvino IHEP accelerator
complex, at a distance of 1160 km, and with modest power of 450 kW is aimed
towards the same far detectors. We show that the coupling of two independent
sub-MW conventional neutrino and antineutrino beams at different baselines from
CERN and Protvino will allow to measure CP violation in the leptonic sector at
a confidence level of at least for 50\% of the true values of
with a 20 kton detector. With a far detector of 70 kton, the
combination allows a sensitivity for 75\% of the true values of
after 10 years of running. Running two independent neutrino
beams, each at a power below 1 MW, is more within today's state of the art than
the long-term operation of a new single high-energy multi-MW facility, which
has several technical challenges and will likely require a learning curve.Comment: 21 pages, 12 figure
Emulsion sheet doublets as interface trackers for the OPERA experiment
New methods for efficient and unambiguous interconnection between electronic
counters and target units based on nuclear photographic emulsion films have
been developed. The application to the OPERA experiment, that aims at detecting
oscillations between mu neutrino and tau neutrino in the CNGS neutrino beam, is
reported in this paper. In order to reduce background due to latent tracks
collected before installation in the detector, on-site large-scale treatments
of the emulsions ("refreshing") have been applied. Changeable Sheet (CSd)
packages, each made of a doublet of emulsion films, have been designed,
assembled and coupled to the OPERA target units ("ECC bricks"). A device has
been built to print X-ray spots for accurate interconnection both within the
CSd and between the CSd and the related ECC brick. Sample emulsion films have
been extensively scanned with state-of-the-art automated optical microscopes.
Efficient track-matching and powerful background rejection have been achieved
in tests with electronically tagged penetrating muons. Further improvement of
in-doublet film alignment was obtained by matching the pattern of low-energy
electron tracks. The commissioning of the overall OPERA alignment procedure is
in progress.Comment: 19 pages, 19 figure
The detection of neutrino interactions in the emulsion/lead target of the OPERA experiment
The OPERA neutrino detector in the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory (LNGS)
was designed to perform the first detection of neutrino oscillations in
appearance mode through the study of oscillations. The
apparatus consists of an emulsion/lead target complemented by electronic
detectors and it is placed in the high energy long-baseline CERN to LNGS beam
(CNGS) 730 km away from the neutrino source. Runs with CNGS neutrinos were
successfully carried out in 2007 and 2008 with the detector fully operational
with its related facilities for the emulsion handling and analysis. After a
brief description of the beam and of the experimental setup we report on the
collection, reconstruction and analysis procedures of first samples of neutrino
interaction events
Measurement of the atmospheric muon charge ratio with the OPERA detector
The OPERA detector at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) was used
to measure the atmospheric muon charge ratio in the TeV energy region. We
analyzed 403069 atmospheric muons corresponding to 113.4 days of livetime
during the 2008 CNGS run. We computed separately the muon charge ratio for
single and for multiple muon events in order to select different energy regions
of the primary cosmic ray spectrum and to test the charge ratio dependence on
the primary composition. The measured charge ratio values were corrected taking
into account the charge-misidentification errors. Data have also been grouped
in five bins of the "vertical surface energy". A fit to a simplified model of
muon production in the atmosphere allowed the determination of the pion and
kaon charge ratios weighted by the cosmic ray energy spectrum.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure
Study of Z Boson Pair Production in e+e- Collisions at LEP at \sqrt{s}=189 GeV
The pair production of Z bosons is studied using the data collected by the L3
detector at LEP in 1998 in e+e- collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 189
GeV. All the visible final states are considered and the cross section of this
process is measured to be 0.74 +0.15 -0.14 (stat.) +/- 0.04 (syst.) pb. Final
states containing b quarks are enhanced by a dedicated selection and their
production cross section is found to be 0.18 +0.09 -0.07 (stat.) +/- 0.02
(syst.) pb. Both results are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions.
Limits on anomalous couplings between neutral gauge bosons are derived from
these measurements
PMm2: large photomultipliers and innovative electronics for the next-generation neutrino experiments
The next generation of proton decay and neutrino experiments, the
post-SuperKamiokande detectors as those that will take place in megaton size
water tanks, will require very large surfaces of photodetection and a large
volume of data. Even with large hemispherical photomultiplier tubes, the
expected number of channels should reach hundreds of thousands. A funded R&D
program to implement a solution is presented here. The very large surface of
photodetection is segmented in macro pixels made of 16 hemispherical (12
inches) photomultiplier tubes connected to an autonomous front-end which works
on a triggerless data acquisition mode. The expected data transmission rate is
5 Mb/s per cable, which can be achieved with existing techniques. This
architecture allows to reduce considerably the cost and facilitate the
industrialization. This document presents the simulations and measurements
which define the requirements for the photomultipliers and the electronics. A
proto-type of front-end electronics was successfully tested with 16
photomultiplier tubes supplied by a single high voltage, validating the
built-in gain adjustment and the calibration principle. The first tests and
calculations on the photomultiplier glass led to the study of a new package
optimized for a 10 bar pressure in order to sustain the high underwater
pressure.Comment: 1 pdf file, 4 pages, 4 figures, NDIP08, submitted to Nucl. Instr. and
Meth. Phys. Res.
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