6 papers
Einstein and the old quantum theory
Alexander Afriat
Objecting that Sommerfeld's quantum conditions refer to particular coordinates, Einstein proposes a canonically invariant rule. But even if the invariance is canonical, Einstein ma…
Logic of gauge
Alexander Afriat
The logic of gauge theory is considered by tracing its development from general relativity to Yang-Mills theory, through Weyl's two gauge theories. A handful of elements---which fo…
Is the world made of loops?
Alexander Afriat
I see no good reason to prefer (any version I know of) the `holonomy interpretation' to the `potential interpretation' of the Aharonov-Bohm effect. Everyone agrees that the inverse…
How Weyl stumbled across electricity while pursuing mathematical justice
Alexander Afriat
It is argued that Weyl's theory of gravitation and electricity came out of `mathematical justice': out of the equal rights direction and length. Such mathematical justice was manif…
The relativity of inertia and reality of nothing
Alexander Afriat, Ermenegildo Caccese
We first see that the inertia of Newtonian mechanics is absolute and troublesome. General relativity can be viewed as Einstein's attempt to remedy, by making inertia relative, to m…
Altering the remote past
Alexander Afriat
An abstract treatment of Bell inequalities is proposed, in which the parameters characterizing Bell's observable can be times rather than directions. The violation of a Bell inequa…