All Outputs (33)

Cosmic hylomorphism: A powerist ontology of quantum mechanics (2021)
Journal Article
Simpson, W. M. R. (2021). Cosmic hylomorphism: A powerist ontology of quantum mechanics. European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 11(1), Article 28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13194-020-00342-5

The primitive ontology approach to quantum mechanics seeks to account for quantum phenomena in terms of a distribution of matter in three-dimensional space (or four-dimensional spacetime) and a law of nature that describes its temporal development. T... Read More about Cosmic hylomorphism: A powerist ontology of quantum mechanics.

Reflections on Contemporary Science and the New Aristotelianism (2017)
Book Chapter
Koons, R. C., Simpson, W. M. R., & Teh, N. J. (2017). Reflections on Contemporary Science and the New Aristotelianism. In W. M. R. Simpson, R. C. Koons, & N. J. Teh (Eds.), Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science (1-11). New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315211626-1

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book considers the challenge to traditional Aristotelian metaphysics posed by the 'block universe' of special relativity, as modeled by... Read More about Reflections on Contemporary Science and the New Aristotelianism.

Knowing nature: beyond reduction and emergence (2017)
Book Chapter
Simpson, W. (2017). Knowing nature: beyond reduction and emergence. In A. B. Torrance, & T. H. McCall (Eds.), Knowing Creation: Perspectives from Theology, Philosophy, and Science (237-260). Zondervan

Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science (2017)
Book
Simpson, W. M. R., Koons, R. C., & Teh, N. J. (Eds.). (2017). Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315211626

The last two decades have seen two significant trends emerging within the philosophy of science: the rapid development and focus on the philosophy of the specialised sciences, and a resurgence of Aristotelian metaphysics, much of which is concerned w... Read More about Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science.

Half-Baked Humeanism (2017)
Book Chapter
Simpson, W. M. R. (2017). Half-Baked Humeanism. In W. M. R. Simpson, R. C. Koons, & N. J. Teh (Eds.), Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science (123-145). New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315211626-7

Toby Handfield has advanced a subtle form of dispositionalism that purports to reconcile the concept of causal powers with broadly Humean convictions by dissolving the requirement for objectively modal relations between powers and their manifestation... Read More about Half-Baked Humeanism.

Surprises in Theoretical Casimir Physics: Quantum Forces in Inhomogeneous Media (2015)
Book
Simpson, W. M. R. (2015). Surprises in Theoretical Casimir Physics: Quantum Forces in Inhomogeneous Media. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09315-4

This thesis considers the problem of determining Casimir-Lifshitz forces in inhomogeneous media. The ground-state energy of the electromagnetic field in a piston-geometry is discussed. When the cavity is empty, the Casimir pressure on the piston is f... Read More about Surprises in Theoretical Casimir Physics: Quantum Forces in Inhomogeneous Media.

Forces of the Quantum Vacuum: an Introduction to Casimir Physics (2015)
Book
Simpson, W. (2015). Forces of the Quantum Vacuum: an Introduction to Casimir Physics. World Scientific Publishing

Forces of the Quantum Vacuum presents a number of theoretical approaches to Casimir, van der Waals and Casimir–Polder forces that have been fruitfully employed in mainstream research, and also reviews the experimental evidence for Casimir forces. Beg... Read More about Forces of the Quantum Vacuum: an Introduction to Casimir Physics.

Casimir forces at the cutting edge (2015)
Book Chapter
Simpson, W., Leonhardt, U., Decca, R., & Buhmann, S. Y. (2015). Casimir forces at the cutting edge. In W. M. R. Simpson, & U. Leonhardt (Eds.), Forces of the Quantum Vacuum: an introduction to Casimir Physics (227-246). World Scientific Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814644761_0007

It would be a pity if you read this far, decided that it all made perfect sense, and put the book down, supposing that scientists have got the Casimir effect ‘pretty much figured out’. They haven't, and physics only thrives when people ask questions.... Read More about Casimir forces at the cutting edge.

Ontological aspects of the Casimir Effect (2014)
Journal Article
Simpson, W. M. R. (2014). Ontological aspects of the Casimir Effect. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 48(Part A), 84-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsb.2014.08.001

The role of the vacuum, in the Casimir Effect, is a matter of some dispute: the Casimir force has been variously described as a phenomenon resulting “from the alteration, by the boundaries, of the zero-point electromagnetic energy” (Bordag, Mohideen,... Read More about Ontological aspects of the Casimir Effect.

Casimir force in a compressive transformation medium (2013)
Journal Article
Simpson, W. M. R. (2013). Casimir force in a compressive transformation medium. Physical Review A, 88(6), Article 063852. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.88.063852

We consider an example of an idealized inhomogeneous metamaterial which, when introduced into a Casimir cavity, reduces the magnitude of the Casimir force. It has recently been argued, however, that Casimir-Lifshitz forces in inhomogeneous media are... Read More about Casimir force in a compressive transformation medium.

Cutoff dependence of the Casimir force within an inhomogeneous medium (2013)
Journal Article
Horsley, S. A. R., & Simpson, W. M. R. (2013). Cutoff dependence of the Casimir force within an inhomogeneous medium. Physical Review A, 88(1), Article 013833. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.88.013833

We consider the ground-state energy of the electromagnetic field in a piston geometry. In the idealized case, where the piston and the walls of the chamber are taken as perfect mirrors, the Casimir pressure on the piston is finite and independent of... Read More about Cutoff dependence of the Casimir force within an inhomogeneous medium.

Divergence of Casimir stress in inhomogeneous media (2013)
Journal Article
Simpson, W. M. R., Horsley, S. A. R., & Leonhardt, U. (2013). Divergence of Casimir stress in inhomogeneous media. Physical Review A, 87(4), Article 043806. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.87.043806

We examine the local behavior of the regularized stress tensor commonly used in calculations of the Casimir force for a dielectric medium inhomogeneous in one direction. It is shown that the usual expression for the stress tensor is not finite anywhe... Read More about Divergence of Casimir stress in inhomogeneous media.

Exact solution for the Casimir stress in a spherically symmetric medium (2011)
Journal Article
Leonhardt, U., & Simpson, W. M. R. (2011). Exact solution for the Casimir stress in a spherically symmetric medium. Physical Review D, 84(8), Article 081701(R). https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.84.081701

We calculated the stress of the quantum vacuum, the Casimir stress, in a spherically symmetric medium, Maxwell’s fish eye, surrounded by a perfect mirror and derived an exact analytic solution. Our solution questions the idea that the Casimir force o... Read More about Exact solution for the Casimir stress in a spherically symmetric medium.