The Contemporary Object I: Quantum Theory
Thomas Nail
This chapter discusses the first loop theory of the object that was born in the 1920s in quantum field theory. Instead of treating objects as discrete and static quanta with fixed properties, what if we treated them as relationally constituted? What if position, velocity, angular momentum, and electrical potential only emerged through interaction with other objects. Then we would have a fully relativistic quantum theory to account for quanta-in-transition. After Dirac formalized this idea mathematically, he realized that it unified two previously distinct kinds of objects: fields and particles. This chapter shows how the study of quantum fields changed our theory of the object and opened the door to a more hybrid, pedetic, and relational loop object.
Edinburgh University Press eBooks•Oct 20, 2021•0 citations