Action at a distance

Historically, action at a distance was the earliest scientific model for gravity and electricity and it continues to be useful in many practical cases.The discovery of electrons and of special relativity led to new action at a distance models providing alternative to field theories.[1] For example, astronomical tables of planetary positions can be compactly summarized using Newton's law of universal gravitation, which assumes the planets interact without contact or an intervening medium.René Descartes held a more fundamental view, developing ideas of matter and action independent of theology.In 1687 Isaac Newton published his Principia which combined his laws of motion with a new mathematical analysis able to reproduce Kepler's empirical results.[6] Newton, in his words, considered action at a distance to be: so great an Absurdity that I believe no Man who has in philosophical Matters a competent Faculty of thinking can ever fall into it.As mathematical techniques improved throughout the 1700s, the theory showed increasing success, predicting the date of the return of Halley's comet[8] and aiding the discovery of planet Neptune in 1846.[9] These successes and the increasingly empirical focus of science towards the 19th century led to acceptance of Newton's theory of gravity despite distaste for action-at-a-distance.[5]: 42  Despite this success, Aepinus himself considered the nature of the forces to be unexplained: he did "not approve of the doctrine which assumes the possibility of action at a distance", setting the stage for a shift to theories based on aether.[2]: 197 Michael Faraday was the first who suggested that action at a distance was inadequate as an account of electric and magnetic forces, even in the form of a (mathematical) potential field.[1]: 348 Faraday's observations, as well as others, led James Clerk Maxwell to a breakthrough formulation in 1865, a set of equations that combined electricity and magnetism, both static and dynamic, and which included electromagnetic radiation – light.[5]: 253  Maxwell started with elaborate mechanical models but ultimately produced a purely mathematical treatment using dynamical vector fields.In 1892 Hendrik Lorentz proposed a modified aether based on the emerging microscopic molecular model rather than the strictly macroscopic continuous theory of Maxwell.Then, in 1905, Albert Einstein demonstrated that the principle of relativity, applied to the simultaneity of time and the constant speed of light, precisely predicts the Lorentz transformation.Thus the aether model, initially so very different from action at a distance, slowly changed to resemble simple empty space.[17] In the early decades of the 20th century, Karl Schwarzschild,[18] Hugo Tetrode,[19] and Adriaan Fokker[20] independently developed non-instantaneous models for action at a distance consistent with special relativity.Albert Einstein wrote to Max Born about issues in quantum mechanics in 1947 and used a phrase translated as "spooky action at a distance", and in 1964, John Stewart Bell proved that quantum mechanics predicted stronger statistical correlations in the outcomes of certain far-apart measurements than any local theory possibly could.[25] The phrase has been picked up and used as a description for the cause of small non-classical correlations between physically separated measurement of entangled quantum states.Rather than a postulate like Newton's gravitational force, this use of "action-at-a-distance" concerns observed correlations which cannot be explained with localized particle-based models.
Jean-Antoine Nollet reproducing Stephan Gray's “electric boy” experiment, in which a boy hanging from insulating silk ropes is given an electric charge. A group are gathered around. A woman is encouraged to bend forward and poke the boy's nose, to get an electric shock. [ 10 ] : 489
Glazed frame, containing "Delineation of Lines of Magnetic Force by Iron filings" prepared by Michael Faraday
Action (physics)Action at a distance (computer programming)physicsmotionphysical contactCoulomb's lawNewton's law of universal gravitationgravityelectricityelectronsspecial relativityfundamental interactionselectromagnetismstrong interactionweak interactionmechanicselasticinelastic collisionscontinuous mediumfluid mechanicssolid mechanicsAether theoriescometsNeptunecentral forcesrelativityfieldsThe Feynman Lectures on PhysicsScientific RevolutionHistory of gravitational theoryantiquity, ideas about the natural worldRené DescartesGalileo GalileiJohannes Keplerlaws of planetary motionTycho BraheIsaac NewtonPrincipialaws of motionlaw of universal gravitationGottfried Wilhelm LeibnizHalley's cometHistory of electromagnetic theoryJean-Antoine NolletWilliam GilbertStephen GrayFranz AepinusCharles-Augustin de CoulombPierre-Simon LaplaceJoseph-Louis LagrangeSiméon Denis Poissonpotential energytest particlesscalar fieldHistory of field theoryMichael Faradayelectrostatic inductionpolarizedJames Clerk Maxwellequationsvector fieldsluminiferous aetheraetherLuminiferous etherstellar aberrationexperimental effortsHendrik Lorentzfactorlength contractionHenri Poincaréprinciple of relativityLorentz transformationAlbert Einsteinspeed ofspacetimegravitational waveselectrical chargeelectromagnetic wavesgeneral relativitycosmologyWheeler–Feynman absorber theoryKarl SchwarzschildHugo TetrodeAdriaan FokkerJohn Archibald WheelerRichard FeynmanAbraham–Lorentz forcearrow of timequantum non-localityquantum mechanicsJohn G. Cramertransactional interpretationMax BornJohn Stewart Belllocal theoryentangled quantum statesBell theoremBell testForce carriersQuantum field theorybosonsmesonsweak bosonphotongravitonactionkinetic energyCentral forcePrinciple of localityQuantum nonlocalityBibcodeQuanta Magazinefree content