The conceptualization of spontaneous symmetry breaking, put forward by Yoichiro Nambu and Giovanni Jona-Lasinio in two landmark papers issued in 1961, was rendered possible by the progressive interweaving, on the one hand, of many-body methods from atomic and solid-state physics; and on the other, of the language, techniques and motivations provided by high-energy physics. Exhuming this conceptual network and outlining its sa- lient steps, I show how prominent a role analogical reasoning had in its con- struction, and more specifically, in turning ideas developed in one domain into tools deployable in another disciplinary context.
Prolegomena to a study on analogy in modern physics: the case of spontaneous symmetry breaking
Rocco Gaudenzi
2020-01-01
Abstract
The conceptualization of spontaneous symmetry breaking, put forward by Yoichiro Nambu and Giovanni Jona-Lasinio in two landmark papers issued in 1961, was rendered possible by the progressive interweaving, on the one hand, of many-body methods from atomic and solid-state physics; and on the other, of the language, techniques and motivations provided by high-energy physics. Exhuming this conceptual network and outlining its sa- lient steps, I show how prominent a role analogical reasoning had in its con- struction, and more specifically, in turning ideas developed in one domain into tools deployable in another disciplinary context.
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