The physics and metaphysics of primitive stuff

The paper sets out a primitive ontology of the natural world in terms of primitive stuff, that is, stuff that has as such no physical properties at all, but that is not a bare substratum either, being individuated by metrical relations. We focus on quantum physics and employ identity-based Bohmian mechanics to illustrate this view, but point out that it applies all over physics. Properties then enter into the picture exclusively through the role that they play for the dynamics of the primitive stuff. We show that such properties can be local (classical mechanics), as well as holistic (quantum mechanics), and discuss two metaphysical options to conceive them, namely Humeanism and modal realism in the guise of dispositionalism

Noise Reduction in Millisecond Pulsar Timing

Astronomers use pulsars as astronomical clocks to perform physical tests, such as in testing Einstein\u27s Theory of General Relativity. As these tests require more precise clock time measurements, we run into problems associated with the pulses traveling through particles in space. Using data taken simultaneously at two radio telescopes, we looked to improve the precision of measurements taken of two pulsars. We looked for correlations between data sets using a variety of techniques to account for the error in our measurements. We report our results in the hopes that these methods can be used in future pulsar timings