May 19, 2010
I finally understand how a discrete model of spacetime can be Lorentz invariant.
To see the problem, note that a spacetime divided into little Planck-length parts would look different in a boosted reference frame — the lengths would differ. (A proposed workaround, “doubly-special relativity,” has been severely challenged at a very basic level.)
A recent review gives [...]
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February 17, 2010
Chemists understood the atomic structure of molecules in the 1800s, yet many say that Einstein established the existence of atoms in a paper on Brownian motion, “Die von der Molekularkinetischen Theorie der Wärme Gefordete Bewegung von in ruhenden Flüssigkeiten Suspendierten Teilchen”, published in 1905.
This is perverse, and has seemed strange to me ever since [...]
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