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LTT: C. Jacobs
January 21, 2022 @ 12:10 pm - 1:30 pm EST
Caspar Jacobs, Dept. of HPS, University of Pittsburgh
Are Mass Scalings Symmetries of Newtonian Mechanics?
ABSTRACT: There has been some recent debate over whether mass scalings – uniform scalings of all particle masses – are symmetries of Newtonian mechanics. The brief answer is that this depends on whether one also inversely scales G, the gravitational constant. If one does so, then the decrease in gravitational strength compensates for the increase in particle masses. However, it is unclear what the gravitational constant is, and hence what it means to change its value. Is G a parameter in the laws, or a property of the world? Is it fixed across physical possibilities, or can it have different values? I will develop an account of constants such as G as ‘links’ between the values of quantities with different dimensions. Based on this account, I will argue that the possibility of G-scalings depends on whether one is an anti-quidditist about determinate quantities or not.
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