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Action at a distance: From Newton’s gravity to quantum theory

Jansson, Lina

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Abstract

Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity seems to postulate action at a distance. Two distant massive bodies act on one another gravitationally instantaneously without a causal mechanism to mediate the action. This paper will argue that a strategy found in the Principia that allows Newton’s theory to be explanatory without providing a causal explanation can be extended to the quantum case. However, while causal action at a distance can be avoided, the explanatory cost of avoiding any form of nonlocality is higher in the quantum case than in the case of Newton’s theory of universal gravitation.

Citation

Jansson, L. (2024). Action at a distance: From Newton’s gravity to quantum theory. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2877(1), Article 012075. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2877/1/012075

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 14, 2024
Online Publication Date Nov 12, 2024
Publication Date Nov 12, 2024
Deposit Date Dec 13, 2024
Publicly Available Date Jan 2, 2025
Journal Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Print ISSN 1742-6588
Electronic ISSN 1742-6596
Publisher IOP Publishing
Peer Reviewed Not Peer Reviewed
Volume 2877
Issue 1
Article Number 012075
DOI https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2877/1/012075
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/42838217
Publisher URL https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/2877/1/012075
Additional Information HAPP Centre: 10th Anniversary Commemorative Volume 3rd June 2024 Oxford, United Kingdom

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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.





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