On the status of conservation laws in physics: Implications for semiclassical gravity
Abstract
We start by surveying the history of the idea of a fundamental conservation law and briefly examine the role conservation laws play in different classical contexts. In such contexts we find conservation laws to be useful, but often not essential. Next we consider the quantum setting, where the conceptual problems of the standard formalism obstruct a rigorous analysis of the issue. We then analyze the fate of energy conservation within the various viable paths to address such conceptual problems; in all cases we find no satisfactory way to define a (useful) notion of energy that is generically conserved. Finally, we focus on the implications of this for the semiclassical gravity program and conclude that Einstein's equations cannot be said to always hold.
- Publication:
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Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics
- Pub Date:
- February 2020
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.10.004
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1910.06473
- Bibcode:
- 2020SHPMP..69...67M
- Keywords:
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- General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology;
- Physics - History and Philosophy of Physics;
- Quantum Physics
- E-Print:
- 41 pages, version accepted for publication in Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics