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The physics of infinity

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David Hilbert famously argued that infinity cannot exist in physical reality. The consequence of this statement — still under debate today — has far-reaching implications.

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Fig. 1: Fourier series of a square wave.

courtesy of David Abergel

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mathematics Department, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa

    George F. R. Ellis

  2. Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

    Krzysztof A. Meissner

  3. Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut), Potsdam, Germany

    Hermann Nicolai

Authors
  1. George F. R. Ellis
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  2. Krzysztof A. Meissner
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  3. Hermann Nicolai
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Correspondence to George F. R. Ellis.

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Ellis, G.F.R., Meissner, K.A. & Nicolai, H. The physics of infinity. Nature Phys 14, 770–772 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-018-0238-1

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