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Fwd: Cosmology and Constants of Nature meeting for philosophers of science: Monday 17 March to Weds 19 March (mornings), Cambridge
by Karim Thébault Jan. 25, 2014

Jan. 25, 2014

-------- Cosmology and the Constants of Nature Monday, 17 March 2014 at 09:00 - Wednesday, 19 March 2014 at 15:00 (GMT); DAMTP, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom The Constants of Nature are quantities, whose numerical values we know with the greatest experimental accuracy - but about the rationale for those values, we have the greatest ignorance. We might also ask if they are indeed constant in space and time, and investigate whether their values arise at random or are uniquely determined by some deep theory. This mini-series of talks (in mornings only) is part of the joint Oxford-Cambridge programme on the Philosophy of Cosmology which aims to introduce philosophers of physics to fundamental problems in cosmology and associated areas of high-energy physics. The talks are aimed at philosophers of physics but should also be of interest to a wide range of cosmologists. Speakers will introduce the physical constants that define the standard model of particle physics and cosmology together with the data that determine them, describe observational programmes that test the constancy of traditional 'constants', including the cosmological constant, and discuss how self-consistent theories of varying constants can be formulated. Speakers: John Barrow, University of Cambridge John Ellis, King's College London Pedro Ferreira, University of Oxford Joao Magueijo, Imperial College, London Thanu Padmanabhan, IUCAA, Pune Martin Rees, University of Cambridge John Webb, University of New South Wales, Sydney Registration is free and includes morning coffee and lunch. Participants are requested to register at the conference website; where the full programme of talks can also be found: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/events/constants2014/ For enquiries about this event please contact Margaret Bull at mmp(a)maths.cam.ac.uk ------ Jeremy Butterfield: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Butterfield Homepage: http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/butterfield/ Trinity College, Cambridge CB2 1TQ Tel: 01223 761524 (office); 07557-668413 (mobile); NB: new mobile number. Visit the journal, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13552198

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PHILPHYS-RDG-GRP: next meeting
by Erik Curiel Jan. 20, 2014

Jan. 20, 2014

The next meeting of the Munich-area philosophy of physics reading group will take place this Wednesday, Jan. 22, at the usual time (14:15-15:45) in the usual place (Ludwigstr. 25, room D4c). We will read "Hawking Radiation and Black Hole Thermodynamics" by Don Page, a breezy and pleasant introductory overview of the subject. (It has equations and arguments, but no formal proofs, and a lot of fun history.) There is no need to read section 5, "Logarithmic corrections to black hole entropy", as that deals entirely with issues in various quantum gravity programs, which we are not yet studying. If you need a copy of the paper, it it uploaded to the dropbox account for the reading account. If you can't access that, let me know. Hope this finds everyone starting a great new year, and I hope to see you at the reading group. Yours, E -- Erik Curiel Postdoctoral Fellow Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy Lehrstuhl für Wissenschaftstheorie Fakultät für Philosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie und Religionswissenschaft Ludwigstrasse 31 80539 München, Deutschland http://strangebeautiful.com

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Talk by Oliver Pooley at MCMP (Jan 22)
by Dardashti, Radin Jan. 20, 2014

Jan. 20, 2014

Speaker: Oliver Pooley (Oxford) Wednesday 22nd Jan 2014 Location: Ludwigstr. 31 room 021 Time: 18:15 - 19:45 Title: New Work on The Problem of Time Abstract: A central aspect of the "Problem of Time" in canonical general relativity is the result of applying to the theory Dirac's seemingly well-established method of identifying gauge transformations in constrained Hamiltonian theories. This "orthodox" move identifies transformations generated by the first-class constraints as mere gauge. Applied to GR the strategy yields the result that the genuine physical magnitudes of the theory (so identified) do not take on different values at different times. In the context of quantum gravity, this orthodoxy underwrites the derivation of the timeless Wheeler–DeWitt equation. It is thus intimately connected to one of the central interpretative puzzles of the canonical approach to quantum gravity, namely, how to make sense of a profoundly timeless quantum formalism. This talk reviews several disparate challenges to the technical underpinning of the orthodox view that are starting to gain prominence. Three issues, in particular, will be surveyed. One, explored in the work of Salisbury and collaborators and Pitts, concerns the true relationship between transformations identified as gauge symmetries in the context of a Lagrangian formalism and transformations generated by first-class constraints. A second, explored in the work of Barbour, Gryb and Thébault, concerns whether physical magnitudes are required to commute with all first-class constraints in order for a Hamiltonian theory to be manifestly deterministic. Taking on board the lessons from these two areas is not always sufficient to address all apparent indeterminism in the Hamiltonian formalism. The third topic concerns how this should be addressed.

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Foundations of QM Seminar (Jan. 20)
by Dardashti, Radin Jan. 20, 2014

Jan. 20, 2014

Dear all, our "Foundations of Quantum Mechanics" seminar continues today with Richard Dawid on "Against the Empirical Viability of the Deutsch-Wallace-Everett Approach to Quantum Mechanics". Paper can be found in the dropbox link below: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pdtjf4tn6a72f38/dOZxPG0HDg Location: Ludwigstr.31, Room 021. Time: Monday Jan. 20, 18:00 (s.t.; i.e. not 18:15) Best wishes, Radin

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Talk by James P. Sethna at ASC (Jan 16)
by Dardashti, Radin Jan. 15, 2014

Jan. 15, 2014

Speaker: James P. Sethna (Cornell University) Thursday 16th Jan 2014 Location: Room A348/349, Theresienstr. 37/III Time: 12:15 - 13:45 Title: Sloppy Models and How Science Works Abstract: "With four parameters I can fit an elephant; with five I can make it wag its tail.” Systems biology models of the cell have an enormous number of reactions between proteins, RNA, and DNA whose rates (parameters) are hard to measure. Models of climate change, ecosystems, and macroeconomics also have parameters that are hard or impossible to measure directly. If we fit these unknown parameters, fiddling with them until they agree with past experiments, how much can we trust their predictions? Multiparameter fits are sloppy; the parameters can vary over enormous ranges and still agree with past experiments. Nonetheless, they can often make useful predictions about future experiments, even allowing for these huge parameter uncertainties: a few stiff combinations of parameters govern the behavior. Third, these sloppy models all appear strikingly similar to one another – for example, the stiffnesses in every case we’ve studied are spread roughly uniformly over a range of over a million. We will use ideas and methods from differential geometry to explain what sloppiness is and why it happens so often. Finally, we shall show that models in physics are also sloppy – that sloppiness makes science possible.

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Talk by Johannes Thürigen at MCMP (Jan. 15)
by Dardashti, Radin Jan. 13, 2014

Jan. 13, 2014

Speaker: Johannes Thürigen (Albert Einstein Institute) Wednesday 15th Jan 2014 Location: Ludwigstr. 31 room 021 Time: 16:15 - 17:45 Title: Theory convergence in approaches to quantum gravity? Abstract: Theories in (empirical) science can be considered epistemically justified not only according to empirical content but also systematization power and uniformity. In the light of these concepts we present an analysis of the basic structure and intertheoretic relations of some approaches to quantum gravity each starting from quite different assumptions. These are Loop quantum gravity, Spin foams, Causal dynamical triangulations, Regge calculus and Group field theory. The aim of this analysis is to critically discuss an argument of physicists working on quantum gravity, stating that there is some kind of convergence of the mentioned approaches which (at least partially) justifies them. Such an argument would be of high relevance since neither the precise relation to the established theories (and thus the phenomena described by those) nor the derivation of original phenomena might be achievable in the foreseeable future, leaving uniformity as the only epistemological criterion in favor for them. We find that intertheoretic relations can be found mainly at the level of the conceptual framework of the theories, rather than regarding the actual dynamical laws. Therefore a weaker notion of theory relation is needed. The recent concept of theory crystallization is a good candidate and we analyze to what extent the approaches to quantum gravity meet its conditions.

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PHILPHYS-RDG-GRP: next meeting
by Erik Curiel Jan. 12, 2014

Jan. 12, 2014

The next meeting of the Munich-area philosophy of physics reading group will take place this Wednesday, Jan. 15, at the usual time (14:15-15:45) in the usual place (Ludwigstr. 25, room D4c). We will read "Hawking Radiation and Black Hole Thermodynamics" by Don Page, a breezy and pleasant introductory overview of the subject. (It has equations and arguments, but no formal proofs, and a lot of fun history.) There is no need to read section 5, "Logarithmic corrections to black hole entropy", as that deals entirely with issues in various quantum gravity programs, which we are not yet studying. If you need a copy of the paper, it it uploaded to the dropbox account for the reading account. If you can't access that, let me know. Hope this finds everyone starting a great new year, and I hope to see you at the reading group. Yours, E -- Erik Curiel Postdoctoral Fellow Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy Lehrstuhl für Wissenschaftstheorie Fakultät für Philosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie und Religionswissenschaft Ludwigstrasse 31 80539 München, Deutschland http://strangebeautiful.com

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Foundations of QM Seminar (Jan. 13)
by Dardashti, Radin Jan. 12, 2014

Jan. 12, 2014

Dear all, our "Foundations of Quantum Mechanics" seminar continues tomorrow with Brian Padden on "Geometric Phases in Quantum Mechanics". Papers can be found in the dropbox link below: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mgm5y8inywk5cp2/gpxUX1_5Nq (relevant: ch.1-4 in Durstberger and Anandan text) Location: Ludwigstr.31, Room 021. Time: Monday Jan. 13, 18:00 (s.t.) Best wishes, Radin

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Talk by Roman Frigg at CAS (10th Jan)
by Dardashti, Radin Jan. 6, 2014

Jan. 6, 2014

Speaker: Roman Frigg (LSE) Friday 10th Jan 2014 Location: Auditorium of Center for Advanced Studies, Seestraße 13, 80802 Munich Time: 18:15 - 19:45 Title: Chaos beyond the Butterfly Effect: The Poison Pill of Structural Model Error Abstract: The sensitive dependence on initial condition associated with chaotic models, the so-called "Butterfly Effect", imposes limitations on the models’ predictive power. These limitations have been widely recognized and extensively discussed. In this lecture, Roman Frigg will draw attention to an additional so far under-appreciated problem, namely structural model error (SME). If a nonlinear model has only the slightest SME, then its ability to generate useful prediction is lost. This puts us in a worse epistemic situation: while we can mitigate against the butterfly effect by making probabilistic predictions, this route is foreclosed in the case of SME. Roman Frigg will discuss in what way the description of problems affects actual modeling projects, in particular in the context of making predictions about the local effects of climate change. Registration required. If you are interested in participating please contact: info(a)cas.lmu.de

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last CfP: Quantum-Classical Divide
by Wolfgang Pietsch Jan. 1, 2014

Jan. 1, 2014

The Working Group "Philosophy of Physics" (AG Phil) of the German Physical Society (DPG) invites submissions for its Annual Meeting, which will take place at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin from March 19 to 21, 2014. Other sections of the DPG, e.g. on gravitation, quantum optics, or mathematical foundations of physics, will also convene in Berlin (http://berlin14.dpg-tagungen.de/index.html?lang=en <http://berlin14.dpg-tagungen.de/index.html?lang=en&> &). As part of the AG Phil meeting, there will be a colloquium on "The Quantum-Classical Divide". Confirmed speakers so far are Alisa Bokulich (Boston), Klaas Landsman (Nijmegen), Tim Maudlin (New York), Wayne Myrvold (Western Ontario), Antigone Nounou (Athens), and Jos Uffink (Minneapolis). Although submissions on any topic in the philosophy of physics are possible, contributions addressing the quantum-classical divide are especially welcome. If you would like to present a paper, please submit an abstract of about 200 words by January 6, 2014, using the online-form on http://berlin14.dpg-tagungen.de/anmeldung/abstract.html?lang=en (please ignore submission deadline given on this page) We look forward to seeing you in Berlin! Best regards, Meinard Kuhlmann, Dennis Lehmkuhl, and Wolfgang Pietsch -------------- Dr. Wolfgang Pietsch 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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