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In Defence of Naiveté: The Conceptual Status of Lagrangian Quantum Field Theory

In Defence of Naiveté: The Conceptual Status of Lagrangian Quantum Field Theory I analyse the conceptual and mathematical foundations of Lagrangian quantum field theory (QFT) (that is, the ‘naive’ (QFT) used in mainstream physics, as opposed to algebraic quantum field theory). The objective is to see whether Lagrangian (QFT) has a sufficiently firm conceptual and mathematical basis to be a legitimate object of foundational study, or whether it is too ill-defined. The analysis covers renormalisation and infinities, inequivalent representations, and the concept of localised states; the conclusion is that Lagrangian QFT (at least as described here) is a perfectly respectable physical theory, albeit somewhat different in certain respects from most of those studied in foundational work. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Synthese Springer Journals

In Defence of Naiveté: The Conceptual Status of Lagrangian Quantum Field Theory

Synthese , Volume 151 (1) – Jun 18, 2004

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References (72)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 by Springer
Subject
Philosophy; Philosophy of Science; Epistemology; Logic; Philosophy of Language; Metaphysics
ISSN
0039-7857
eISSN
1573-0964
DOI
10.1007/s11229-004-6248-9
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

I analyse the conceptual and mathematical foundations of Lagrangian quantum field theory (QFT) (that is, the ‘naive’ (QFT) used in mainstream physics, as opposed to algebraic quantum field theory). The objective is to see whether Lagrangian (QFT) has a sufficiently firm conceptual and mathematical basis to be a legitimate object of foundational study, or whether it is too ill-defined. The analysis covers renormalisation and infinities, inequivalent representations, and the concept of localised states; the conclusion is that Lagrangian QFT (at least as described here) is a perfectly respectable physical theory, albeit somewhat different in certain respects from most of those studied in foundational work.

Journal

SyntheseSpringer Journals

Published: Jun 18, 2004

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