2009/06/05 by Frank Arntzenius, Hilary Greaves, H. R. G. Greaves · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · Medicine · #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Biofield Effects and Biophysics
paper · doi:10.1093/bjps/axp015
Richard Feynman has claimed that anti-particles are nothing but particles ‘propagating backwards in time’; that time reversing a particle state always turns it into the corresponding anti-particle state. According to standard quantum field theory textbooks this is not so: time reversal does not turn particles into anti-particles. Feynman's view is interesting because, in particular, it suggests a non-standard, and possibly illuminating, interpretation of the CPT theorem. This paper explores a classical analog of Feynman's view, in the context of the recent debate between David Albert and David Malament over time reversal in classical electromagnetism. 1. Introduction2. Time Reversal and the Direction of Time3. Classical Electromagnetism: The Story So Far 3.1. The standard textbook view3.2. Albert's proposal3.3. Malament's proposal3.4. Albert revisited4. The ‘Feynman’ Proposal5. Structuralism: A Third Way? 5.1. Structures: the debate recast5.2. Relational structures5.3. Malament and Feynman structures as conventional representors of a relational reality6. Conclusions and Open Questions