Are Virtual Quanta Nothing but Formal Tools?

International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 25 (1):39 - 53 (2011)
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Abstract

The received view in philosophical studies of quantum field theory is that Feynman diagrams are simply calculational devices. Alongside this view we have the one that takes virtual quanta to be also simply formal tools. This received view was developed and consolidated in philosophy of physics by Mario Bunge, Paul Teller, Michael Redhead, Robert Weingard, Brigitte Falkenburg, and others. In this article I present an alternative to the received view

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10.1080/02698595.2011.552417

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Mario Bacelar Valente
Universidad de Sevilla (PhD)

Citations of this work

Metaphysics of the principle of least action.Vladislav Terekhovich - 2017 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 62:189-201.

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References found in this work

An Interpretative Introduction to Quantum Field Theory.Paul Teller - 1996 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 47 (1):152-153.
[no title].Harvey R. Brown & Rom Harré (eds.) - 1988 - New York: Oxford University Press.
QED and the Men Who Made It: Dyson, Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga.Silvan S. Schweber - 1995 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 46 (4):624-627.

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