Dynamics of senses of new physics discourse: co-keywords analysis

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method for analyzing the evolution of physics concepts over time by examining co-occurrence patterns of keywords, revealing the structure and influence of physics senses in new physics research.

Contribution

It develops a new approach to co-keyword analysis that uncovers relationships among physics concepts across documents, advancing understanding of knowledge structure in new physics.

Findings

Identified distinct physics senses and their trajectories over time

Classified senses based on their authority and lifespan

Provided insights into the evolution of new physics concepts

Abstract

The paper presents a longitudinal analysis of the evolution of new physics keywords co-occurrence patterns. For that, we explore the documents indexed in the INSPIRE database from 1989 to 2018. Our purpose is to quantify the knowledge structure of the fast-growing subfield of new physics. The development of a novel approach to keywords co-occurrence analysis is the main point of the paper. In contrast to traditional co-keyword network analysis, we investigate structures that unite physics concepts in different documents and bind different documents with the same physics concepts. We consider the structures that reveal relationships among concepts as topological and call them "physics senses". Based on the notion of trajectory mutual information, the paper offers clustering of physics senses, determines their period of life, and constructs a classification of senses' "authority".