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Reading group on Haag's Theorem: 18.00 (ST), Tues 26th Jan in R131, Ludwigstr. 31
by Adam Caulton Jan. 19, 2016

Jan. 19, 2016

Dear all (with apologies for cross-posting), We are continuing the philosophy of physics reading group in 2016 with a discussion of Haag’s Theorem in quantum field theory. In particular, we will be discussing Ed Seidewitz’s recent (and so far unchecked!) paper, in which he claims to have found a natural way to avoid Haag’s Theorem by introducing an external parameter to the quantum field. The paper is available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/1501.05658 I will briefly introduce the topic and the paper. We will meet in my office (room R131 in Ludwigstr. 31) at 18.00 ST on Tuesday 26th January. Very best, Adam

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CFA: Summer School in Philosophy of Quantum Gravity
by Christian Wuthrich Jan. 18, 2016

Jan. 18, 2016

Call for Applications: International Summer School in Philosophy of Physics on the PHILOSOPHY OF QUANTUM GRAVITY Hosted by the University of Geneva and the University of Illinois at Chicago Space and Time After Quantum Gravity project Williams Bay, Wisconsin, USA June 19-24, 2016 Further information, when available, at http://beyondspacetime.net/2016summerschool/. Quantum theories of gravity, as diverse and incomplete as they may be, promise to revolutionize our conception of the fundamental structure of reality. For instance, the world we inhabit may be non-spatiotemporal at the ground level. The philosophical implications of quantum gravity may thus be far-reaching, but what exactly are these implications and how will they affect our philosophical conceptions? Conversely, the formulation of a quantum theory of gravity forces the theorists to address foundational, indeed philosophical questions, for their theory-building. Such questions include the metaphysical implications of quantum gravity, or the nature of phenomenological spacetime in string theory. These are just some of the questions that we will discuss in this Summer School, which addresses graduate students and postdocs from philosophy of physics and related fields. Faculty (we expect to announce more): • Gordon Belot (Michigan) • Nick Huggett (Illinois at Chicago) • Jenann Ismael (Arizona) • Keizo Matsubara • Amanda Peet (Toronto) • Carlo Rovelli (Marseille) • Christian Wuthrich (Geneva) Organizing Committee: Nick Huggett Christian Wuthrich Keizo Matsubara The intended audience for the Summer School are Masters students, PhD students, and postdocs working or planning to work in the intersection between physics and philosophy. We will also consider applications from philosophers and physicists wishing to expand their existing research interests to include the philosophical implications of quantum gravity. We will furthermore consider applications from members of the general public who can demonstrate an acquaintance with the subject equivalent to the Master’s level. To apply for the Summer School, candidates should submit: • A cover letter of no more than one page describing your current research interest and its relevance to the topic of the Summer School; please explain as specifically as possible how the summer school will benefit your research plans. • A current CV. • A short letter from your advisor or other person knowledgeable of your work, expressing your suitability. • Optional: participants wishing to present their own work need to submit a title and a 500-word abstract. If accepted, they will get the opportunity to present their work. Please combine all your documents into one PDF file and upload it to http://https://easychair. org/conferences/?conf=isspqg2016 by March 16, 2016. Decisions will be made by early April. The Organizing Committee will select the admitted participants based on the academic strength of their file and the pertinence of their interests; in other words, we will consider how much the candidate is likely to benefit from attending the Summer School and how much the Summer School would likely benefit from the attendance of the candidate and try to maximize the sum of the benefits. The Summer School is generously supported by the John Templeton Foundation and will thus be free of charge for accepted participants, including room and board. Participants are responsible for their travel to and from the site of the Summer School, and for incidentals such as beverages.

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Rafaela Hillerbrand on Climate Science
by Wolfgang Pietsch Jan. 18, 2016

Jan. 18, 2016

Dear all, You are cordially invited to a talk tomorrow evening by Prof. Dr. Dr. Rafaela Hillerbrand ITAS, Karlsruhe Unscientific because it is uncertain? Scientific because it is uncertain! A philosophical perspective on climate models Tuesday, 19. January 2016, 18:15 The talk takes place in room 1.221, Arcisstraße 21 (Stammgelände TU München) Further information: <https://www.cvl-a.mcts.tum.de/oeffentliche-vorlesungen/frontiers-of-science -technology-and-philosophy/> https://www.cvl-a.mcts.tum.de/oeffentliche-vorlesungen/frontiers-of-science- technology-and-philosophy/ Best wishes, Wolfgang Pietsch -------------- Dr. Wolfgang Pietsch Lehrstuhl für Philosophie und Wissenschaftstheorie Munich Center for Technology in Society Technische Universität München Arcisstr. 21 D-80333 München, Germany Tel.: +49 (0)89 . 289 25366

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"Rethinking Foundations of Physics" & "Causal Fermion Systems"
by Wolfgang Pietsch Jan. 13, 2016

Jan. 13, 2016

Auf Bitte von Johannes Kleiner [mailto:johannes.kleiner@mathematik.uni-regensburg.de] leite ich gerne folgende Ankündigung weiter: - - - We would like to let you know about two upcoming events, both of which might be interesting for you, PhD students of yours or young colleagues of yours: The workshop Rethinking Foundations of Physics and the summer school Causal Fermion Systems. Both take place in March 2016, the deadline for the first, unfortunately, already ends this week. Information can be found on the websites <http://rethinking-workshop.org/> http://rethinking-workshop.org/ and <http://cfs-school.uni-regensburg.de/> http://cfs-school.uni-regensburg.de/ . We would be very grateful if you could forward this information to potentially interested PhD students and postdocs. Best regards, Johannes Kleiner, Robin Lorenz, Franz Gmeineder, Jan-Hendrik Treude -------------- Dr. Wolfgang Pietsch Lehrstuhl für Philosophie und Wissenschaftstheorie Munich Center for Technology in Society Technische Universität München Arcisstr. 21 D-80333 München, Germany Tel.: +49 (0)89 . 289 25366

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Einladung zur Studie „Berufseinstieg von Studierenden und Absolventen – Erfolgreich im Job ankommen!“
by Marion Bonvin Dec. 17, 2015

Dec. 17, 2015

Liebe Studierende Wie gelingt der optimale Jobeinstieg für Studierende und Absolventen? In einer aktuellen Studie im deutschsprachigen Raum greifen wir genau diese Frage auf und würden uns dabei sehr über Deine Teilnahme freuen! Worum geht es? Das Ziel dieser Studie ist es, Erkenntnisse darüber zu erhalten, wie der Einstieg in eine Organisation optimal gelingt, wie Studierende und Absolventen diese Phase erleben und was dabei für sie entscheidend ist. Die Teilnahme an der Studie erfolgt über Online-Fragebogen und ist streng vertraulich. Deine Angaben werden nur zu statistisch-wissenschaftlichen Zwecken genutzt und auf keinen Fall weitergegeben. Wer sind wir? Die Studie wird am Lehrstuhl für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie der Universität Zürich durchgeführt und von weiteren Institutionen unterstützt. Was hast Du von einer Teilnahme? Du leistest einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Erforschung des Jobeinstiegs und profitierst von … - einem Erkenntnisbericht zu Erfolgsfaktoren beim Jobeinstieg, - einer persönlichen Profil-Analyse (u.a. Dein Stärken-Profil), - und diversen Vergleichswerten bzgl. des Verhaltens und Erlebens von Jobeinsteigern. Zudem kannst Du 400 EUR und 2x100 EUR gewinnen! Hier geht es zur Anmeldung und weiteren Informationen: www.unipark.de/uc/berufseinstieg/ Selbstverständlich kannst Du uns für Fragen zur Studie ebenfalls per E-Mail oder Telefon kontaktieren. Herzlichen Dank für Deine Teilnahme und freundliche Grüsse M.Sc. Christian Gross Studienleitung -- Psychologisches Institut der Universität Zürich Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie Binzmühlestrasse 14/12 CH-8050 Zürich Telefon +41 (0)44 635 72 28 berufseinstieg(a)psychologie.uzh.ch

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Talk by Kleber at TUM (Mon. 14 Dec.)
by Dardashti, Radin Dec. 10, 2015

Dec. 10, 2015

Speaker: Manfred Kleber (TUM München) Date: Mon., Dec. 14 Location: Lecture hall II, Physics Department, Garching (https://www.ph.tum.de/about/visit/roomfinder/?room=5101.EG.502) Time: 17.15 Title: The story of Heisenberg's quantum mechanics Abstract: Ninety years ago the birth of quantum mechanics took place when Werner Heisenberg submitted his paper on Quantum-theoretical reinterpretation of kinematic and mechanical relations (Über quantentheoretische Umdeutung kinematischer und mechanischer Beziehungen) to Zeitschrift für Physik. [Z. Phys., 33, 879-893 (1925)]. We will show how important the historical context was for an understanding of his work and we will follow Heisenberg on the narrow path that took him from the unsuccessful old quantum mechanics to the light of the new quantum mechanics. We then discuss Heisenbergs research in the years following his scientic breakthrough.

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CfP: Working Group Meeting "Philosophy of Physics" of the German Physical Society
by Dardashti, Radin Dec. 7, 2015

Dec. 7, 2015

Dear all, The Working Group “Philosophy of Physics” (AGPhil) of the German Physical Society (DPG) invites submissions for its annual workshop within the annual meeting of the DPG. Contributions on any topic in the philosophy of physics are welcome. The conference will take place at the University of Hamburg from February 29 to March 3, 2016, and will be part of the Annual Meeting of the DPG (http://hamburg16.dpg-tagungen.de/index.html?set_language=en&cl=en) The AGPhil hosts a joint symposium on “Quantum Theory and Gravitation“ with the DPG sections for gravitation and general relativity, particle physics, and mathematical foundations of physics; all of these will also organise additional workshops and talks at the University of Hamburg during the annual meeting. The keynote speakers of the AGPhil conference will be Adam Caulton (Munich), Michela Massimi (Edinburgh), J. Brian Pitts (Cambridge) and Chris Wüthrich (Geneva). If you would like to present a paper, please submit an abstract of about 200 words by 3 January, 2016, using the online-form at https://www.dpg-tagung.de/hh16/submission.html?language=en We look forward to seeing you in Hamburg! Meinard Kuhlmann, Dennis Lehmkuhl, Wolfgang Pietsch

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Talk by Nick Tosh at MCMP (Wed. Dec.2)
by Dardashti, Radin Nov. 30, 2015

Nov. 30, 2015

Speaker: Nick Tosh (NUI Galway) Date: Wed., Dec. 2 Location: Ludwigstr. 31, ground floor, room 021 Time: 18:15 -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 19:45 Title: Ensemble realism: A new approach to statistical mechanical probability Abstract: “What we know about a body can generally be described most accurately and most simply by saying that it is one taken at random from a great number (ensemble) of bodies which are completely described.” So wrote Willard Gibbs in 1902, but with his fingers crossed, for he regarded ensembles as convenient fictions. A century later, they are still convenient, and we still have no settled account of the literal meaning of statistical mechanical probability assignments. My aim is to show how talk of ensembles might be taken seriously.

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Rading Group Philosophy of Physics (Tue. Nov 24)
by Dardashti, Radin Nov. 23, 2015

Nov. 23, 2015

Dear all, the next session of our reading group: Inconsistency in Physics will be on Tuesday Nov. 24th in room 028, Ludwigstraße 31. There will be no reading for that session. Erik Curiel will give a presentation on the derivation of the Navier-Stokes equations from the Boltzmann collision equation. Best wishes, Radin

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Talks by Evans and Fraser at MCMP (25. and 26. Nov)
by Dardashti, Radin Nov. 22, 2015

Nov. 22, 2015

Speaker: Peter Evans (University of Queensland) Date: Wed., Nov 25 Location: Ludwigstraße 31, ground floor, Room E21 Time: 16:15 -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 17:45 Title: Quantum causal models, faithfulness and retrocausality Abstract: Wood and Spekkens (2015) argue that any causal model explaining the EPRB correlations and satisfying no-signalling must also violate the assumption that the model faithfully reproduces the statistical dependences and independences---a so-called “fine-tuning” of the causal parameters; this includes, in particular, retrocausal explanations of the EPRB correlations. I consider this analysis with a view to enumerating the possible responses an advocate of retrocausal explanations might propose. I focus on the response of Näger (2015), who argues that the central ideas of causal explanations can be saved if one accepts the possibility of a stable fine-tuning of the causal parameters. I argue that, in light of this view, a violation of faithfulness does not necessarily rule out retrocausal explanations of the EPRB correlations. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Speaker: James Fraser (University of Leeds) Date: Thu., Nov 26 Location: Ludwigstraße 31, ground floor, Room E21 Time: 12:15 -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 13:45 Title: Relativity in Quantum Field Theory Abstract: There has recently been heated debate amongst philosophers of physics about which formulation of quantum field theory (QFT) ought to be the basis of philosophical investigations of high energy physics. Doreen Fraser has defended the primacy of axiomatic formulations of QFT, while David Wallace advocates the philosophical significance of cutoff QFTs. In this paper I focus on one issue underlying this dispute, namely the status of relativity in QFT. While Fraser takes QFT to incorporate a commitment to Minkowski space-time, Wallace views QFT as an effective field theory which says nothing about the fundamental nature of space-time, and is unfazed by the fact that imposing a cutoff breaks Poincaré covariance. One way out of this apparent stalemate, I suggest, is to relax the idea that there is a one preferred 'foundational' version of QFT. We can then allow that different formalisms, which incorporate different claims about space-time structure, are the appropriate objects of study for different philosophical projects. In particular, I argue that the question of whether quantum theory can be combined with fundamental Minkowski space-time structure and what we ought to believe about the world given the successes of the standard model are distinct and that it may be that axiomatic and cutoff formulations of QFT are the right starting points for each.

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