November 2013 - philphysmunich

PHILPHYS-RDG-GRP: next meeting
by Erik Curiel Nov. 25, 2013

Nov. 25, 2013

The next meeting of the Munich-area philosophy of physics reading group will take place Wednesday, Dec. 04, 14:15-15:45, in Ludwigstr. 25, room D4c. We will discuss "Acceleration radiation and the generalized second law of thermodynamics" by Unruh and Wald, available in the dropbox account for this reading group: https://www.dropbox.com/home/ReadingGroupBlackHoles/Week3_0412 If there is time and interest, we may also discuss Bekenstein's response to this paper, "Non-Archimedean character of quantum buoyancy and the generalized second law of thermodynamics", and even Unruh and Wald's riposte to Bekenstein, "Entropy bounds, acceleration radiation, and the generalized second law". These two papers are also available in the dropbox account. Hope to see you there! E -- Erik Curiel Postdoctoral Fellow Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy Lehrstuhl für Wissenschaftstheorie Fakultät für Philosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie und Religionswissenschaft Ludwigsstrasse 31 80539 München, Deutschland http://strangebeautiful.com

1 0

Two Talks this week
by Dardashti, Radin Nov. 25, 2013

Nov. 25, 2013

Speaker: Heinz-Jürgen Schmidt (Osnabrück) Wednesday 27th Nov 2013 Location: Ludwigstr.31 Room E021 Time: 6 to 8 pm Title: The Bohmian Challenge Abstract: The Bohmian extension of quantum theory claims to solve the measurement problem by re-establishing, in some sense, the classical ontology of particle trajectories on a microscopic level. In this talk I will not dwell upon the pros and cons to this claim but rather try to explain why this enterprise constitutes a challenge for philosophy of science, especially for those branches striving for rigorous methods. The Bohmian extension is empirically equivalent to standard quantum mechanics and mathematically only an extension by definitions. The main difference to other interpretations of quantum theory seems to be the belief into the reality of the Bohmian trajectories. Are the theory concepts used in philosophy of science rich enough to represent this crucial difference? In particular, I will scrutinize the theory concept of Günther Ludwig that was explicitly developed to foster his statistical interpretation of quantum theory and contains as a central notion the “reality domain” of a physical theory. A partial result will be that the Bohmian trajectories are not “objective properties” of particles in the sense defined by Ludwig, since the velocity of the Bohmian particles is not observable. And before this event at the Physics department Speaker: Lars Brink (Chalmers University Goeteborg) Wednesday 27th Nov 2013 Location: A348/349, Theresienstr. 37/III Time: 4 to 6 pm Title: The history behind the Brout-Englert-Mechanism and the Standard Model Abstract: I will describe the process of how to award Nobel Prizes and then give the history behind this year's prize.

1 0

MUNICH-PHIL-PHYS: meeting of reading group today
by Erik Curiel Nov. 25, 2013

Nov. 25, 2013

This is a reminder that the next meeting of the Munich-area philosophy of physics reading group will take place today (Nov. 25), 17:45-19:45, in Ludwigstr. 31 E021. Note that, since there is no foundations of qm meeting scheduled for today, this meeting will not conflict with that. Discussion will still be based on the paper "'Physical process version' of the first law and the generalized second law for charged and rotating black holes" by S. Gao and R. Wald. Meetings will resume their regular times, on alternate Wednesday, starting Dec 04. Hope to see you there! Yours, Erik -- Erik Curiel Postdoctoral Fellow Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy Lehrstuhl für Wissenschaftstheorie Fakultät für Philosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie und Religionswissenschaft Ludwigsstrasse 31 80539 München, Deutschland http://strangebeautiful.com

1 0

MUNICH-PHIL-PHYS: next meeting of reading group postponed
by Erik Curiel Nov. 20, 2013

Nov. 20, 2013

Due to a few regular members being unable to make the meeting today, the next meeting of the Munich-area philosophy of physics reading group will take place next Monday (Nov. 25), 17:45-19:45, in Ludwigstr. 31 E021. Note that, since there is no foundations of qm meeting scheduled for Monday, this meeting will not conflict with that. Discussion will still be based on the paper "'Physical process version' of the first law and the generalized second law for charged and rotating black holes" by S. Gao and R. Wald. Hope to see you there! Yours, Erik -- Erik Curiel Postdoctoral Fellow Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy Lehrstuhl für Wissenschaftstheorie Fakultät für Philosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie und Religionswissenschaft Ludwigsstrasse 31 80539 München, Deutschland http://strangebeautiful.com

1 0

Foundations of QM Seminar Nov. 18
by Dardashti, Radin Nov. 17, 2013

Nov. 17, 2013

Dear all, our "Foundations of Quantum Mechanics" joint seminar with Stanford continues tomorrow with Karim Thebault (LMU/MCMP). He will talk about "Decoherence, the measurement problem, and the Born rule in quantum mechanics". Reading can be found in the dropbox link below: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/epwdcmeagpsdzy7/PM4dEeRfLk Location: Martiusstr.4, Room 104. Time: Monday Oct. 21, 6pm (s.t.) Best wishes, Radin

1 0

Reminder: Foundations of QM Seminar Today
by Dardashti, Radin Nov. 11, 2013

Nov. 11, 2013

Dear all, our "Foundations of Quantum Mechanics" joint seminar with Stanford continues today with Michael B. Heaney. He will talk about "A new Symmetrical Theory of Quantum Mechanics". His slides and the two papers the talk is based on can be found under the dropbox link below: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9xxytm3g3zlupoj/g_dieVrpON The seminar starts 15 minutes later than usual, i.e. at 6:15pm. Location: Martiusstr.4, Room 104. Time: Monday Nov. 4, 6:15pm Best regards, Radin

1 0

Talk by Karen Crowther at MCMP (Wed. 13. Nov)
by Dardashti, Radin Nov. 11, 2013

Nov. 11, 2013

Speaker: Karen Crowther (Sydney) Wednesday 13th Nov 2013 Ludwigstr.31 Room E021 Time: 4 to 6 pm Title: Emergent spacetime in condensed matter analogues of general relativity Abstract: It has been claimed, based on a few different lines of reasoning, that the notion of spacetime will not appear in a quantum theory of gravity. If this is the case, then spacetime is an emergent concept. Analogue models of general relativity based in condensed matter systems present us with concrete examples of emergent spacetime, and could potentially help us understand the nature of emergent spacetime in the context of quantum gravity. These models present a curved spacetime metric that is described using an effective field theory. In this talk, I explore the conception of emergence that is relevant to analogue spacetime in the condensed matter models. This is a conception of emergence that also applies more generally to other effective field theories, and, as I argue, one that is best understood without appeal to the idea of reduction. I finish by briefly mentioning some potential implications for quantum gravity.

1 0

PHIL-PHYS-GROUP: next meeting of the München reading group
by Erik Curiel Nov. 7, 2013

Nov. 7, 2013

The next meeting of the München-area philosophy of physics reading group will take place in two weeks, on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 14:00-16:00 (which means 14:15-15:45), in 25 Ludwigstrasse 25, room D4c. We will discuss "'Physical process version' of the first law and the generalized second law for charged and rotating black holes" by S. Gao and R. Wald (which I attach to this email). I hope to see y'all there. E -- Erik Curiel Postdoctoral Fellow Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy Lehrstuhl für Wissenschaftstheorie Fakultät für Philosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie und Religionswissenschaft Ludwigsstrasse 31 80539 München, Deutschland http://strangebeautiful.com

1 0

Foundations of QM Seminar Nov 11 (NOTE: change of time)
by Dardashti, Radin Nov. 7, 2013

Nov. 7, 2013

Dear all, our "Foundations of Quantum Mechanics" joint seminar with Stanford continues next monday with Michael B. Heaney. He will talk about "A new Symmetrical Theory of Quantum Mechanics". The seminar starts 15 minutes later than usual, i.e. at 6:15pm. Location: Martiusstr.4, Room 104. Time: Monday Nov. 4, 6:15pm Best regards, Radin

1 0

PHIL-PHYS-GROUP: next meeting this wednesday
by Erik Curiel Nov. 4, 2013

Nov. 4, 2013

Dear Y'all, This is just a reminder that the next meeting of the München-area philosophy of physics reading group will be this Wednesday, Nov. 06, 14:00 (which of course actually means 14:15), in Ludwigstrasse 25, room D4c. I will start the seminar with a very brief review of Killing horizons, and then we will discuss Bob Wald's paper "The Thermodynamics of Black Holes" (which I attach a copy of). I hope to see you there. Erik -- Erik Curiel Postdoctoral Fellow Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy Lehrstuhl für Wissenschaftstheorie Fakultät für Philosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie und Religionswissenschaft Ludwigsstrasse 31 80539 München, Deutschland http://strangebeautiful.com

1 0