November 2017 - philphysmunich

Fifth International Conference on the Nature and Ontology of Spacetime
by Vesselin Petkov Nov. 29, 2017

Nov. 29, 2017

Fifth International Conference on the Nature and Ontology of Spacetime Date: 2018-05-14 - 2018-05-17 Location: Albena (near Varna), Bulgaria Website: http://www.minkowskiinstitute.org/conferences/2018/ Contact: 2018conference(a)minkowskiinstitute.org To mark the 110th anniversary of Hermann Minkowski's groundbreaking lecture "Space and Time" the main theme of the Fifth International Conference on the Nature and Ontology of Spacetime will be the nature of spacetime - whether spacetime should be regarded merely as an abstract mathematical notion modelling an evolving present, or spacetime represents a block universe or a growing block universe? Physicists are especially encouraged to attend because even relativists hold widely different views, e.g., that (i) spacetime is nothing more than a mathematical continuum (which is essentially Poincaré's view that prevented him from discovering the spacetime structure of the world and from developing the mathematical formalism of spacetime physics) (ii) the question of the reality of spacetime belongs to philosophy (which is hardly physics at its best because the question of the dimensionality of the world can be answered only by physics). Despite that the focus of the fifth spacetime conference will be on the main theme, the Scientific Organizing Committee invites papers from physicists and philosophers on any topic related to the nature and ontology of spacetime. Contributed papers in the form of extended abstracts of between one and two pages should be emailed by Wednesday, January 31, 2018 to 2018conference(a)minkowskiinstitute.org. Submissions will be reviewed and notification of acceptance will be given by Wednesday, February 28, 2018. Scientific Organizing Committee: Dennis Dieks (Utrecht University) Mauro Dorato (University of Rome Three) George F. R. Ellis (University of Cape Town) Robert Geroch (University of Chicago) Eleanor Knox (King's College London) Vesselin Petkov (Minkowski Institute, Montreal) Steven Savitt (University of British Columbia) Anguel Stefanov (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) James Owen Weatherall (University of California, Irvine) Christian Wüthrich (University of Geneva)

1 0

Call for Papers: 9th International Workshop on Physics and Computation
by Michael Cuffaro Nov. 29, 2017

Nov. 29, 2017

/* * Call for Papers * * 9th International Workshop on Physics and Computation (P&C 2018) * (A satellite workshop to Unconventional Computation & Natural * Computation 2018) * * IUT de Fontainebleau, Fontainebleau, France * * 25-29 June 2018 * * https://easychair.org/cfp/pc2018 * */ Workshop Description: --- The 9th International Workshop on Physics and Computation (P&C 2018) will be held as a satellite workshop of the 17th International Conference on Unconventional Computation and Natural Computation (UCNC 2018) in Fontainebleau, France, which is being held from 25-29 June 2018. (The workshop will be co-located with the main conference and will be held on one of the days within this period.) P&C 2018 is an interdisciplinary meeting which aims to bring together researchers from various domains with interests in physics and computation. Research and important issues relating to the interface between physics and the theories of computation, computability and information, including their application to physical systems, will be presented and discussed. In 2018, the P&C workshop coincides with the imminent publication of the interdisciplinary volume, "Physical Perspectives on Computation, Computational Perspectives on Physics" (Cambridge University Press), edited by Michael E. Cuffaro and Samuel C. Fletcher (http://www.michaelcuffaro.com/books.shtml) We are pleased to announce that two of this book's contributors: Judit X. Madarász and Oron Shagrir will present keynote lectures at the workshop. Invited Speakers: --- * Judit X. Madarász * Oron Shagrir Submissions: --- Authors are invited to submit either a full paper (12 pages maximum) or an extended abstract (maximum 4-5 pages) to the workshop's EasyChair site: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=pc20180. Submissions must be prepared for blind review by removing any identifying author information, and submitted in Portable Document Format (PDF). Note that those submitting only an extended abstract will (if accepted) be asked to submit the full (maximum 12 page) version of the paper prior to the commencement of the workshop, so as to be published in the workshop's pre-proceedings (see below). Papers must not have been submitted simultaneously to other conferences or workshops with published proceedings. Accepted papers must be presented at the workshop. Proceedings: --- A 'pre-proceedings' of the workshop will be published as a volume of Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science (EPTCS) before the workshop commences. Additionally, after the workshop, authors of selected papers will be invited to submit revised and extended versions of their papers, subject to additional review, for publication in a special issue of the International Journal of Unconventional Computing (IJUC). Topics: --- We welcome extended abstracts and/or paper submissions for presentation on topics relating to physics and computation. Typical, but not exclusive, topics include: * Axiomatisation of physics: completeness, decidability, reduction * Dynamical systems: computability, complexity * Hypercomputation * Molecular computation and reaction-diffusion models * Multiple-substrate computation * Novel models of computation * Philosophy of physics and computation * (Physical) Church-Turing thesis * Quantum computation and information * Quantum logics * Physics and computational complexity * Randomness: quantum, dynamical & physical randomness * Relativistic computation * Theory of measurement: axiomatisation, complexity * Thermodynamics of Computation Important Dates: --- * Submissions deadline: 1 March 2018 * Notification of acceptance: 30 April 2018 * Final versions of papers due (for pre-proceedings): 21 May 2018 Registration, Participation, & Accommodation: --- P&C 2018 is part of the broader UCNC conference and all costs are included in registration for the primary conference. To attend, please register for the conference at: https://ucnc2018.lacl.fr/. Accommodation information will also be made available via the UCNC site. Program Committee: --- * Hajnal Andréka * Jack Copeland * Nachum Dershowitz * Samuel Fletcher * Dominic Horsman * Viv Kendon * Olimpia Lombardi * Markus Müller * Wayne Myrvold * Gualtiero Piccinini * Michael Cuffaro * Philippos Pappayanoppolis Organising Committee --- * Michael Cuffaro * Philippos Pappayanoppolis Website --- https://easychair.org/cfp/pc2018 Email address for further inquiries --- pc2018-0(a)easychair.org The conference language is English.

1 0

Summer School "Particle Physics at the Crossraods"
by Wolfgang Pietsch Nov. 28, 2017

Nov. 28, 2017

Perhaps of interest to the group. In case of questions please contact Adrian Wüthrich (adrian.wuethrich(a)tu-berlin.de) ----------- Summer School "Particle Physics at the Crossroads" Call for Applications (deadline 31 January 2018) The Research Unit "Epistemology of the LHC" invites applications for the Summer School "Particle Physics at the Crossroads: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Past, Present and Future of Particle Physics" taking place 23-30 July 2018 in Wuppertal (Germany). With the discovery of the Higgs boson, the last missing piece of the Standard Model of particle physics has been found. The “hunt” for the Standard Model particles has thus come to an end and new aims and challenges will take centre stage in the practice of particle physics: precision measurements of the Standard Model’s parameters, the search for particles beyond the Standard Model, motivated in part by cosmological evidence, and the exploration of yet uncharted experimental and theoretical territory. To meet these challenges ever more sophisticated and larger experimental facilities will be required as well as an ever more critical assessment of the virtues and shortcomings of various theoretical proposals. A better understanding of this new phase of particle physics calls for a concerted effort of physics and the social sciences reflecting on it. Confirmed speakers are John Ellis, Ollof Hallonsten, Rafaela Hillerbrand, Martina Merz, Margarete Mühlleitner, Chris Smeenk, Kent Staley, Friedrich Steinle, Catherine Westfall and Christian Zeitnitz. We invite up to 30 advanced students and early career researchers from the history, philosophy, and sociology of physics, as well as from physics itself to participate. The application process will be competitive and participants will be selected according to qualification and research interests. To apply, please send the following material in a single pdf file to SummerSchool.ELHC(a)uni-wuppertal.de: - a letter of motivation, no longer than two pages, - a cv in tabular form, - a list of publications (if available), and - two academic references, i.e. contact details of two professors or established researchers who are willing to comment on your qualifications A selection of participants will be able to give short presentations of their own work as part of the school. The presentations will be followed by a commentary from a member of the Research Unit. In case you intend to give a presentation, you should add to your application: - the title of your talk, and - a short abstract (between 300 and 500 words) We offer a small number of stipends to participants with limited financing. To apply for a stipend, please also prepare and submit a letter, no longer than one page, explaining your financial situation. Upon request, the participants will receive a confirmation that the summer school is equivalent to a workload of 2 ECTS. For further information and practical details, please refer to http://www.lhc-epistemologie.uni-wuppertal.de/index.php?id=1182 or contact the organizers Adrian Wüthrich and Florian Boge using the email address SummerSchool.ELHC(a)uni-wuppertal.de

1 0