Pwa90 A Lifetime Of Emergence

' In a remarkable career spanning more than six decades, Philip W Anderson has made many fundamental contributions to physics. As codified in his oft-quoted phrase "More is Different", Anderson has been the most forceful and persuasive proponent of the radical, but now ubiquitous, viewpoint of emergent phenomena: truly fundamental concepts that can and do emerge from studies of Nature at each layer of complexity or energy scale. Anderson''s ideas have also extended deeply into other areas of physics, including the Anderson–Higgs mechanism and the dynamics of pulsars. PWA90: A Lifetime of Emergence is a volume of original scientific essays and personal reminiscences of Philip W Anderson by experts in the field, that were presented as part of "PWA90: Emergent Frontiers of Condensed Matter" meeting held at Princeton in December 2013 to highlight Anderson''s contributions to physics. Contents: Recollections of a Graduate Student (Khandker A Muttalib)P W Anderson Seen Through the Eyes of a Student (Clare C Yu)Random Walks in Anderson''s Garden: A Journey from Cuprates to Cooper Pair Insulators and Beyond (G Baskaran)Some Reminiscences on Anderson Localization (Elihu Abrahams)Anderson and Condensed Matter Physics (T V Ramakrishnan)Superfluidity and Symmetry Breaking — An Anderson Living Legacy (Frank Wilczek)Phil Anderson and Gauge Symmetry Breaking (Edward Witten)A Short History of the Theory and Experimental Discovery of Superfluidity in 3He (W F Brinkman)Superconductivity in a Terrestrial Liquid: What Would It Be Like? (A J Leggett)40 Years of Quantum Spin Liquid: A Tale of Emergence from Frustration (Patrick A Lee)High Tc Superconductivity and RVB (Mohit Randeria)Paired Insulators and High Temperature Superconductors (T H Geballe and S A Kivelson)Special Properties of High Tc Cuprates, Radically Different from Other Transition Metal Oxides (T M Rice)From Bacteria to Artificial Cells, the Problem of Self-Reproduction (Albert Libchaber)Spin Glasses and Frustration (Scott Kirkpatrick)Frustration and Fluctuations in Systems with Quenched Disorder (D L Stein)Phil Anderson''s Magnetic Ideas in Science (Piers Coleman) Readership: Students, academics and researchers in condensed matter. Keywords:P W Anderson;Superfluidity;Anderson–Higgs Mechanism;Pulsars;Condensed Matter Physics;Anderson;Localization;High-Temperature Superconductors;Spin Classes'

Emergence is often described as the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts: interactions among the components of a system lead to distinctive novel properties. It has been invoked to describe the flocking of birds, the phases of matter and human consciousness, along with many other phenomena. Since the nineteenth century, the notion of emergence has been widely applied in philosophy, particularly in contemporary philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and metaphysics. It has more recently become central to scientists’ understanding of phenomena across physics, chemistry, complexity and systems theory, biology and the social sciences. The Routledge Handbook of Emergence is an outstanding reference source and exploration of the concept of emergence, and is the first collection of its kind. Thirty-two chapters by an international team of contributors are organised into four parts: Foundations of emergence Emergence and mind Emergence and physics Emergence and the special sciences Within these sections important topics and problems in emergence are explained, including the British Emergentists; weak vs. strong emergence; emergence and downward causation; dependence, complexity and mechanisms; mental causation, consciousness and dualism; quantum mechanics, soft matter and chemistry; and evolution, cognitive science and social sciences. Essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and metaphysics, The Routledge Handbook of Emergence will also be of interest to those studying foundational issues in biology, chemistry, physics and psychology.

The humanities (and social science) are the disciplines that study human, which are essential in helping us to understand ourselves and others and the world around us. Since science is the study of everything in the universe and human is a material system consisting of the same atoms that make up other nonhuman systems, humanities are part of science. Thus, understanding correctly what science is about will be helpful in making progress in the humanities. To patch up the gap between the 'two cultures' derived from these two branches of knowledge, the best way is to recognize their common root in science and work through humanities-science synthesis, as advocated by Scimat, the new multidiscipline proposed by the author in 2007. Furthermore, raising the scientific level of the humanities, which include decision making, will help to make the world better.Humanities, Science, Scimat details these issues, consisting of three parts. Part I is about Scimat and the new humanities (history, philosophy, art). Part II is on the origin and nature of science, new insights on the life and works of selected scientists, some thoughts on science communication/popularization, and case examples of science innovation — all from the Scimat perspective. While Parts I and II are short essays with no references (with rare exceptions), Part III are longer articles with full references that supplement Parts I and II. Each essay/article starts with a color picture. They are all easy to read — nothing technical.In short, this book contains the basic knowledge about the humanities and science that everyone should know. The aimed readership is anyone, from high school students and laypeople to the professors, who are interested in what the humanities and science are about, and how we can work together to achieve a better humanity.

Charles M. (Chuck) Newman has been a leader in Probability Theory and Statistical Physics for nearly half a century. This three-volume set is a celebration of the far-reaching scientific impact of his work. It consists of articles by Chuck’s collaborators and colleagues across a number of the fields to which he has made contributions of fundamental significance. This publication was conceived during a conference in 2016 at NYU Shanghai that coincided with Chuck's 70th birthday. The sub-titles of the three volumes are: I. Spin Glasses and Statistical Mechanics II. Brownian Web and Percolation III. Interacting Particle Systems and Random Walks The articles in these volumes, which cover a wide spectrum of topics, will be especially useful for graduate students and researchers who seek initiation and inspiration in Probability Theory and Statistical Physics.

This book explores the role of exaptation in diverse areas of life, with examples ranging from biology to economics, social sciences and architecture. The concept of exaptation, introduced in evolutionary biology by Gould and Vrba in 1982, describes the possibility that already existing traits can be exploited for new purposes throughout the evolutionary process. Edited by three active scholars in the fields of biology, physics and economics, the book presents an interdisciplinary collection of expert viewpoints illustrating the importance of exaptation for interpreting current reality in various fields of investigation. Using the lenses of exaptation, the contributing authors show how to view the overall macroscopic landscape as comprising many disciplines, all working in unity within a single complex system. This book is the first to discuss exaptation in both hard and soft disciplines and highlights the role of this concept in understanding the birth of innovation by identifying key elements and ideas. It also offers a comprehensive guide to the emerging interdisciplinary field of exaptation, provides didactic explanations of the basic concepts, and avoids excessive jargon and heavy formalism. Its target audience includes graduate students in physics, biology, mathematics, economics, psychology and architecture; it will also appeal to established researchers in the humanities who wish to explore or enter this new science-driven interdisciplinary field.

A Mind Over Matter is a biography of the Nobel-prize winner Philip W. Anderson, a person widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential physicists of the second half of the twentieth century. Anderson (1923-2020) was a theoretician who specialized in the physics of matter, including window glass and metals, magnets and semiconductors, liquid crystals and superconductors. More than any other single person, Anderson transformed the patchwork subject of solid-state physics into the deep, subtle, and coherent discipline known today as condensed matter physics. Among his many world-class research achievements, Anderson discovered an aspect of wave physics that had been missed by all previous scientists going back to Isaac Newton. He became a public figure when he testified before Congress to oppose its funding of an expensive project intended exclusively for particle physics research. Over the years, he published many articles designed to influence a broad audience about issues where science impacted public policy and culture. Anderson grew up in the American mid-west, was educated at Harvard, and rose to the pinnacle of his profession during the first decade of his thirty-five career as a theoretical physicist at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Almost uniquely, he spent many years working half-time as a professor at the University of Cambridge and at Princeton University. The outspoken Anderson enjoyed broad influence outside of physics when he helped develop and champion the concepts of emergence and complexity as organizing principles to help attack very difficult problems in technically challenging disciplines.