Doreen Fraser

Contact Information

Office:  HH 330
Phone:  519-888-4567  x32780
Email:  dlfraser@uwaterloo.ca

Doreen Fraser received the Arts Awards 2016 for Excellence in Service.

Education

PhD,  University of Pittsburgh (History and Philosophy of Science)
BPhil, University of Oxford (Philosophy)
BSc, University of Western Ontario (Philosophy & Physics)

Areas of Interest

Philosophy of Physics, Philosophy of Science, History of Science (especially 17th Century)

Current Research

The central focus of my current research is the project funded by my SSHRC Standard Research Grant, which is entitled "A Philosophical Investigation of Issues Raised by Particle Physics." Here is a brief description of the project.

A turning point in the recent history of physics was the realization that an identification can be made between the theories of statistical mechanics and particle physics. Kenneth Wilson won the Nobel Prize for this contribution to physics in 1982. The discovery that the same mathematical formalism can be used in both statistical mechanics and particle physics is surprising because these theories were taken to describe unrelated aspects of the physical world. Statistical mechanics gives an account of phase transitions between states of bulk matter, such as the transition from liquid to gas in a steaming coffee cup, while particle physics concerns the properties of the individual elementary constituents of the universe, such as electrons, quarks, and photons. The importance of this discovery to particle physics was borne out by subsequent developments in the field. This insight was a key step in the formulation of the Standard Model, the current taxonomy of elementary particles. In particular, it was an essential
ingredient in the prediction of the controversial Higgs particle, the detection of which is one of the primary missions of the $10-billion Large Hadron Collider that recently began operation near Geneva. While the importance of the analogy between statistical mechanics and particle physics is beyond doubt, the nature of the analogy between the two theories stands in need of further analysis. What has been shown is that the two theories share the same mathematical form, which establishes a formal analogy. The pressing question that remains is this: Is there a more substantial physical analogy between particle physics and statistical mechanics underlying this formal analogy? The answer to this question is
important to both philosophers and theoretical physicists because it has deep ramifications for our understanding of the nature of elementary particles, the discipline of particle physics, and the enterprise of scientific theorizing more generally.

The goals of this project are twofold: first, to analyze the analogy between statistical mechanics and particle physics and, second, to apply this analysis to address philosophical issues raised by particle physics as well as broader epistemological issues. Fundamental questions that will be answered in the course of achieving the first goal are the following: Why is it possible to apply the same mathematical formalism in both statistical mechanics and particle physics? Is it because the mathematical formalism
describes the same aspects of physical reality in both cases? Or is it because the empirical predictions take the same mathematical form in both cases, so they can be calculated using the same mathematical methods? For the second goal, a central question concerns whether, in virtue of the analogy between the two theories, philosophical conclusions about statistical mechanics carry over to particle physics. In this category, there are epistemological arguments pertaining to the nature of the intertheoretic relations (i.e., emergence and reduction) and the role of idealization; there are also metaphysical arguments concerning the ontological status of particles and the interpretation of spontaneous symmetry breaking. These are all topics of current interest in the philosophy of physics and there are many applications in the foundations
of physics, including the Higgs particle and the Large Hadron Collider. The fact that statistical mechanics and particle physics constitute such disparate applications of the same mathematical formalism makes this a revealing case study for the more general epistemological problem of how to explain the applicability of mathematics. The case study will also yield insight into the role that analogical reasoning plays in scientific theorizing.

Selected Publications

• “Spontaneous symmetry breaking:  Quantum statistical mechanics versus quantum field theory,” Philosophy of Science 79 (2012):  905-916.
• “How to take particle physics seriously:  A further defence of axiomatic quantum field theory,” Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 42 (2011): 126-135.
• “Quantum field theory:  Underdetermination, inconsistency, and idealization,” Philosophy of Science 76 (2009): 536-567.
• “The fate of ‘particles’ in quantum field theories with interactions,” Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 39 (2008):  841-859. (with John Earman)
• “Haag’s theorem and its implications for the foundations of quantum field theory,” Erkenntnis 64 (2006): 305-344.
• “The Third Law in Newton’s Waste book (or, the road less taken to the second law),” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 36 (2005): 43-60.

Grants, Fellowships, Awards

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Standard Research Grant, April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2014. Title: A philosophical investigation of issues raised by particle physics.

Recent Graduate Supervision and Teaching

Ph.D. Research Area:

• Epistemology

M.A. Theses:

• Quantum Field Theory:  Motivating the Axiom of Causality
• A Realist Critique of Structural Empiricism
• Spectrum Epistemology: The Bonjour-Goldman Debate
• Can Induction Strengthen Inference to the Best Explanation?

M.A. Paper:

• “A Role for Partial Representations in the Explanatory Applicability of Mathematics” (I was a lecturer at the 1st International Spring School on Particle Physics and Philosophy, March 16-25, 2011, organized by the Epistemology of the Large Hadron Collider research group at the University of Wuppertal, Germany for advanced graduate students and post docs in philosophy of physics and science, history of science, and particle physics)

Seminars:

• Philosophy (PHIL) 459/673: Studies in the Philosophy of Physics: Philosophical Issues Raised by 19th Century Physics, Fall 2012
• PHIL 471/673: Philosophy of Quantum Theory, Winter 2011, Fall 2006
• PHIL 455/673: Anti-Realism, Winter 2010
• PHIL 482/673: Philosophy of Science, Fall 2008
• PHIL 674: A Priori Knowledge, Spring 2008