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Irvine-Munich Workshop on the Foundations of Classical and Quantum Field Theories (LMU Munich, December 14th 2014)
by Karim Thébault Oct. 29, 2014

Oct. 29, 2014

********************************************* Irvine-Munich Workshop on the Foundations of Classical and Quantum Field Theories LMU Munich, December 14th 2014 http://www.mcmp.philosophie.uni-muenchen.de/events/workshops/container/foun… ********************************************* Since its introduction in the nineteenth century, the concept of a field as an independent physical entity has become central to modern physics. Many highly successful classical theories, most notably electromagnetism and gravitation, were reformulated along field-theoretic lines, leading to advances in the understanding of their respective subject matters as well as enriching knowledge of field theory itself. The great development of these classical field theories influenced the founders of quantum mechanics, with the subsequent formulation of quantum field theories providing molds from which the Standard Model of particle physics has been cast. Yet the profound difficulties of finding a quantum field theory that incorporates gravitation have forced physicists and philosophers to confront the foundations of field theory with more scrutiny. While the multifaceted nature of the difficulties with quantum field theory may have reopened inquiry into classical field theories in hopes of finding potent analogies, this study has developed a rich life of its own. This workshop brings together communities of researchers working from different viewpoints on the foundations of both classical and quantum field theory. Speakers Erik Curiel (MCMP/LMU) Benjamin Feintzeig (UC Irvine) Samuel Fletcher (MCMP/LMU) Brian Padden (MCMP/LMU) Sarita Rosenstock (UC Irvine) Michael Stoeltzner (South Carolina) Karim Thébault (MCMP/LMU) James Weatherall (UC Irvine) ********************************************* For information about practical matters and registration, please contact one of the organizers: Samuel Fletcher (Samuel.Fletcher(a)lrz.uni-muenchen.de) or Karim Thébault (Karim.Thebault(a)lrz.uni-muenchen.de)

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Talks by Sam Fletcher and Sam Sanders at MCMP (Oct. 15)
by Dardashti, Radin Oct. 13, 2014

Oct. 13, 2014

Speaker: Samuel Fletcher (MCMP) Wednesday 15th Oct. 2014 Location: Ludwigstr. 31 room 021 Time: 16:15 - 17:45 Title: On the Local Flatness of Spacetime Abstract: Many discussions of the foundations of general relativity put a special emphasis on describing every relativistic spacetime as “locally flat”, or as “locally Minkowskian”. Such claims are prima facie puzzling: after all, curvature is itself a local property, being described by a tensor field on spacetime. In general, relativistic spacetimes have non-vanishing curvature, so there is a straightforward sense in which they are not locally flat. Still, there is a natural intuition behind claims of “local flatness” arising from analogy with a sufficiently small region of a curved surface, like that of the Earth, which can to a good approximation be described as planar. But like many “principles” of general relativity, there does not seem to be much consensus regarding how to make this intuition more precise. Without attempting a comprehensive survey, we note three common articulations of what it could mean for spacetime to be “locally flat” or “locally Minkowskian,” arguing that each of them is unsatisfactory. We then explore a different, but precise and coordinate-independent sense in which relativistic spacetimes might be described as (approximately) locally flat. --------------------------------------- Speaker: Sam Sanders (MCMP) Wednesday 15th Oct. 2014 Location: Ludwigstr. 31 room 021 Time: 18:15 - 19:45 Title: Constructivism in Physics and Platonism in Mathematics Abstract: First of all, I argue that constructive mathematics (in the sense of Bishop, going back to Brouwer) is an essential part of the mathematical practice of physics. My motivation is the observation that to test a physical theory against experiments, we have to compute or approximate the mathematical objects in that theory in order to compare them to our experimental data. Such approximation procedure is generally impossible for non-constructive objects. In particular, I show that the intuitive “calculus with infinitesimals” from physics naturally gives rise to constructive mathematics. Secondly, I argue that predicativist mathematics (in the sense of Russell, Weyl, and Feferman) is incoherent from the point of view of Nonstandard Analysis. In particular, to remove the paradoxes in naive set theory, Russell proposed accepting the set of natural numbers as a finished totality, but banning subsets defined using the “vicious circle principle”, nowadays called “impredicative definition”. The textbook example of the latter is the Suslin functional, while arithmetical comprehension is the perfect example of predicativist mathematics. I show that the Suslin functional is equivalent to a nonstandard principle of arithmetical comprehension over a predicativist system of Nonstandard Analysis.

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CFP: Time in Quantum Gravity, San Diego, 13-14 March 2015
by Christian Wüthrich Sept. 29, 2014

Sept. 29, 2014

CFP: Seminar on the Philosophical Foundations of Quantum Gravity 13-14 March 2015 – University of California, San Diego Invited Speakers: Alyssa Ney (Rochester) Daniele Oriti (MPI for Gravitational Physics, Golm) Amanda W Peet (Toronto) David Rideout (UCSD) Christian Wüthrich (UCSD) The investigation of quantum gravity has been central to theoretical physics for at least two decades, but philosophy has only engaged with this field in very a fragmentary way. Building on the first such meeting that took place in Chicago in September 2013, the purpose of this meeting is to continue to bring together people with research agendas in quantum gravity, to present their work and develop some common understanding of philosophical topics, questions, approaches, and solutions. Because the field is very new, many of those involved are near or recent PhDs – along with established scholars, they are encouraged to attend, to share their work or learn. We invite technically and philosophically informed presentations on any topics concerning the foundational implications for the nature of time of quantum gravity: for instance, could a theory do without time? What do quantum black holes reveal about the nature of causality? What is the relation between space and time in quantum gravity? What is the nature of dynamics in theories of quantum gravity? And so on. The paper presentations should be suitable for presentations in 30 minutes plus question period. Please submit an extended abstract of up to 1,000 words, together with the title of the talk. ABD graduate students or recent PhDs are particularly invited to submit abstracts. Deadline for papers and proposals: 15 October 2014 (decisions by 30 December 2014) – please prepare them for blind refereeing. We do not anticipate sharing refereeing comments. We will provide financial support of two kinds: • For speakers without access to institutional travel funds we will offer honoraria. Please indicate in your submission if you do not have access to institutional funds and would like to be considered for these honoraria. • For graduate students who cannot get their expenses covered through their institutions, we will offer bursaries. Recipients of these bursaries do not need to be speakers at the meeting. Please indicate in your submission or in a separate email if you qualify and would like to be considered for these bursaries. Direct correspondence to: beyondspacetimeseminar(a)gmail.com. For further information, please visit: http://beyondspacetime.net/ The organizers, Nick Huggett David Rideout Christian Wüthrich Funding Provided by the New Agendas for the Study of Time at the Center for Time at the University of Sydney.

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CfP: 1st Munich Graduate Workshop in Mathematical Philosophy: Philosophy of Physics (LMU Munich, 9 - 11 April 2015)
by Brian Padden Sept. 29, 2014

Sept. 29, 2014

********************************************* 1ST MUNICH GRADUATE WORKSHOP IN MATHEMATICAL PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS LMU Munich 9 - 11 April 2015 www.lmu.de/graduateworkshop2015 ********************************************* The Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP) is organizing the first Munich Graduate Workshop in Mathematical Philosophy, 9 - 11 April 2015. The workshop is intended for masters and doctoral students with interests in the philosophical foundations of physics. The program will feature student presentations, keynote lectures, and `working groups’ on advanced material at the forefront of contemporary research. We invite submissions of 1000 word extended abstracts together with a short abstract, motivation letter, CV and reference letter. The submission deadline is 1st December 2014 and notification of acceptance can be expected by 19th December. Please visit the website fore more details. KEYNOTE LECTURES: Harvey Brown (Oxford), Rüdiger Schack (London), Charlotte Werndl (Salzburg) INTERNAL LECTURES: Erik Curiel, Michael Cuffaro, Radin Dardashti, Samuel Fletcher, Paula Reichert, Karim Thébault ORGANIZERS: Brian Padden, Patricia Palacios, Karim Thébault *********************************************

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Winter Term 2014/5 Philosophy of Physics Reading Group
by Samuel Fletcher Sept. 12, 2014

Sept. 12, 2014

Dear Colleagues (with apologies for cross-posting), The philosophy of physics reading group in the winter term will meet biweekly on Tuesdays, starting 14 October, from 14:00-16:00, in E341 of the main university building: https://lsf.verwaltung.uni-muenchen.de/qisserver/rds?state=verpublish&statu… . We will focus on topics in the foundations of classical mechanics, especially different formulations of classical mechanics, their interrelations, and their physical and metaphysical presuppositions. As convener, I will send out a tentative syllabus around 7 October. Until then, potentially interested participants are encouraged to suggest stimulating papers. Best wishes, Sam Fletcher

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Call for Abstracts: Quantum Computation, Quantum Information, and the Exact Sciences
by Michael Cuffaro Sept. 7, 2014

Sept. 7, 2014

Call for Abstracts: Quantum Computation, Quantum Information, and the Exact Sciences == We invite submissions from both philosophers and scientists exploring the connections between the philosophy and foundations of quantum computation and quantum information theory (QCIT), and more traditional philosophical and foundational questions in physics, computer science, information theory, and mathematics. Envisioned topics for contributed papers include: QCIT's relevance for our understanding of the structure and axiomatics of quantum theory, QCIT's relevance for our understanding of physical conceptions of computation and/or information, alternative formalisms and mathematical frameworks for characterising QCIT, methodological differences and commonalities between QCIT and more traditional approaches to the exact sciences, and the metaphysical significance (or lack thereof) of the concepts and operational definitions of QCIT. This list is not exhaustive. Dates of the conference: January 30-31, 2015. Location: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany. Keynote speakers == Hans J. Briegel, University of Innsbruck, Austria and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria. Leah Henderson, Center for Formal Epistemology, Carnegie Mellon University, United States of America. Christopher Timpson, Brasenose College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Organizers: Michael Cuffaro (Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy), Samuel Fletcher (Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy), Johannes Kofler (Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics). Submissions == Submissions, consisting of one short (max. 100 word) and one extended (750-1000 word) abstract, will be double-blind reviewed and should be submitted through our automated submission system (EasyChair): https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=qcompinfo2015 Please prepare your submission for blind review by removing any identifying information from both your short and long abstract. Your short abstract should be pasted directly into the text box provided on the submission form. Your long abstract should be saved as a PDF document and uploaded via the "Upload a Paper" interface on the submission form. Do not tick the "Abstract Only" check box. Note: you will be able to revise your submission any number of times before the submission deadline. Submission deadline: November 14, 2014 at 11:55PM (GMT). Notification date: December 2, 2014. Registration fee (includes the price of the conference dinner): 50€ regular fee, 30€ for graduate students. The conference language is English. Website where more information on the conference will be posted soon: http://www.mcmp.philosophie.uni-muenchen.de/events/workshops/index.html Best regards, -- Michael Cuffaro Postdoctoral Fellow Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy Lehrstuhl für Wissenschaftstheorie Fakultät für Philosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie und Religionswissenschaft Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1 80539 München, Deutschland http://www.michaelcuffaro.com

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WIP Talk by Neil Dewar (Oxford)
by Karim Thébault July 17, 2014

July 17, 2014

Speaker: Neil Dewar (Oxford) Friday 18th July 2014 Location: Ludwigstr. 31 room *028* Time: 14:15 - 15:45 The Grammar of the Problem of Time It is widely agreed that the Problem of Time indicates that the the methods of the constrained Hamiltonian formalism are inappropriate when applied to General Relativity; the interesting question involves getting clear on why these formal methods, which work so well in other contexts, break down so radically in this case. In this talk, I argue that the basic reason is straightforward, and concerns the different representational roles of independent and dependent variables: to apply the constrained Hamiltonian method to independent variables is to treat subjects as though they were predicates, and so to lapse into ungrammatical confusion. _______________________________________________ philphysmunich mailing list philphysmunich(a)lists.lrz.de https://lists.lrz.de/mailman/listinfo/philphysmunich

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Quantum Information Theory Reading Group at LMU
by Michael Cuffaro July 13, 2014

July 13, 2014

Dear all, the Summer 2014 reading group on Quantum Information Theory will begin this coming Monday, April 14th, from 18:00 - 20:00 (CT). After that we will meet bi-weekly. The location is Ludwigstraße 31, Room 021. The first part of the meeting on Monday will be devoted to organisational matters and to discussing subsequent meeting topics. During the second part of the meeting, *Seamus Bradley* will introduce us to *Classical Information Theory*. As background reading, you may want to look at Parts I and II of Claude Shannon's "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" (1948). It can be downloaded from: http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/what/shannonday/shannon1948.pdf Everyone interested in the topic of quantum information theory is encouraged to attend the group. Please also feel free to distribute this to anyone not subscribed to this mailing list who you think may be interested in attending. If you are receiving this email twice because you belong to this mailing list but are explicitly included in the Cc list, please let me know and I will remove you from the latter. I hope to see many of you next week. Best wishes, -- Michael Cuffaro Postdoctoral Fellow Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Fakultät für Philosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie und Religionswissenschaft Lehrstuhl für Wissenschaftstheorie Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1 80539 München, Deutschland http://www.michaelcuffaro.com

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Talk by Radin Dardashti (MCMP)
by Karim Thébault July 1, 2014

July 1, 2014

Speaker: Radin Dardashti (MCMP) Wednesday 2nd July 2014 Location: Ludwigstr. 31 room 021 Time: 16:15 - 17:45 On the Distinction between Internal and External Symmetries There is no doubt that symmetries play an important role in fundamental physics, but there is no agreement among physicists on what this role exactly is. So it is not surprising that it has caught the interest of philosophers in recent years leading to a lively discussion on the epistemological and ontological significance of symmetries. Especially in this context it becomes relevant whether common distinctions made between different kinds of symmetries are purely conventional or have a deeper mathematical and/or physical justification. It is the aim of this talk to discuss the distinction between internal and external (or spacetime) symmetries and its possible justification. First, I will discuss attempts at combining internal and external symmetries, which lead to several no-go theorems. A naive interpretation of these results leads to the conclusion that the distinction is physically/mathematically justified. Second, the strong dependence of the no-go results on physical and mathematical assumptions is discussed and it is shown how the distinction becomes blurred once mathematical assumptions are weakened. This is exactly what happens in supersymmetric extensions of the standard model of particle physics. So, in the final part, I will argue that under a certain (philosophical) assumption the question about the status of the distinction can be made into an experimental question _______________________________________________ philphysmunich mailing list philphysmunich(a)lists.lrz.de https://lists.lrz.de/mailman/listinfo/philphysmunich

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Mini-Workshop on the Foundations of Shape Dynamics (LMU Munich, 23rd June)
by Karim Thébault June 12, 2014

June 12, 2014

****************************************************************** Mini-Workshop on the Foundations of Shape Dynamics Sean Gryb (Nijmegen) and Tim Koslowski (New Brunswick) 18:15 - 19:45 Monday 23rd June Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, LMU Munich Ludwigstr. 31/0 room 021 ****************************************************************** *An Introduction to Shape Dynamics: a New Perspective on Quantum Gravity* Sean Gryb (Nijmegen) Shape Dynamics is a theory of gravity where the fundamental ontology is that of evolving conformally invariant spatial geometry. This implements a notion of local spatial scale invariance such that what is seen to be physically meaningful is the information about the local "shapes" (as opposed to size) of a system. Perhaps surprisingly, this theory can be proven to reproduce a vast number of the solutions to the Einstein equations. However, black hole solutions are known to differ from those of GR past the horizon and do not lead to singularities. Shape Dynamics, thus, provides an intriguing new starting point for a theory of quantum gravity. In this introductory chalkboard talk, I will try to give some motivations for Shape Dynamics and will describe the basic structure of the theory, outlining how one can prove equivalence with GR. This will lay the ground work for Tim Koslowski's talk, which will discuss some recent developments of the theory. *Recent Work in Shape Dynamics* Tim Koslowski (New Brunswick) Based on the introduction to shape dynamics by Sean Gryb, I will discuss the question: "Given that gravity (from the perspective of shape dynamics) is fundamentally the evolution of spatial conformal geometry and not spacetime: How is the arrow of time generated? How is the illusion of a spacetime generated? What are the limitations of the spacetime description? I will give explicit answers to several aspect of these questions and I will explain where the uncharted territory begins. ****************************************************************** Selected Papers: Einstein gravity as a 3D conformally invariant theory Henrique Gomes, Sean Gryb, Tim Koslowski.. Quant.Grav. 28 (2011) 045005 arXiv:1010.2481 [gr-qc] | Frequently asked questions about Shape Dynamics Henrique Gomes, Tim Koslowski. Found.Phys. 43 (2013) 1428-1458 arXiv:1211.5878 [gr-qc] A Gravitational Origin of the Arrows of Time Julian Barbour, Tim Koslowski, Flavio Mercati. arXiv:1310.5167 [gr-qc] _______________________________________________ philphysmunich mailing list philphysmunich(a)lists.lrz.de https://lists.lrz.de/mailman/listinfo/philphysmunich

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