Talks by Peter Pickl and Robert Rynasiewicz at the MCMP (Wed. 10th)

[Dardashti, Radin]

Speaker: Peter Pickl (LMU)
Date: Wed., June 10
Location: Ludwigstr. 31, ground floor, room 021
Time: 16:15 -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 17:45

Title: Explaining Macroscopic Systems from Microscopic Principles

Abstract:
The revolutionary idea of the late 19th century that the physics of 
gases can be explained by the dynamics of small, point-like particles 
had a great influence on physics as well as mathematics and philosophy. 
This idea has changed our understanding of the physics of macroscopic 
systems significantly as well as the way we see our universe as a whole. 
The question of how the connection between the microscopic and the 
macroscopic world can be explained also arises in other fields, for 
example the life sciences. Answering this question might have a similar 
impact on the research in these fields.
In the talk I will present recent techniques and results of our research 
group in deriving macroscopic evolution equations from microscopic 
principles for certain classical, quantum mechanical and biological 
systems.


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Speaker: Robert Rynasiewicz (Johns Hopkins)
Date: Wed., June 10
Location: Ludwigstr. 31, ground floor, room 021
Time: 18:15 -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 19:45

Title: On The Role Of The Light Postulate In Relativity

Abstract:
As presented by Einstein in 1905, the theory of special relativity 
follows from two postulates: first, what he called the principle of 
relativity, and second, an empirical fact about the relation of the 
propagation of light relative to its source that has come to be called 
the light postulate. In 1910 Waldemar von Ignatowsky claimed to be able 
to derive the Lorentz transformations, and hence special relativity, 
without the light postulate using only the principle of relativity and 
assumptions that Einstein seems to have implicitly made, such as 
linearity and the isotropy and homogeneity of space. In his 
authoritative Relativitätstheorie of 1921, Pauli dismissed Ignatowsky’s 
result without explanation as void of physical significance. More 
recently, respected physicists and foundationalists, such as David 
Mermin (1984), have defended Ignatowsky and claimed that special 
relativity pre- supposes nothing about electromagnetism. In the first 
part of this talk, I discuss just what the light postulate asserts (both 
in special and in general relativity). In the second, I hope to shed 
light on the debate, if not definitively settle it. (To say on which 
side would spoil the suspense.) I will also discuss related attempts to 
dismiss the conventionality of simultaneity.