Dear colleagues:
please find below, and attached as a Word document, the program for a 1 day
conference in Philosophy of Physics happening at DAMTP, CMS, Wilberforce
Road, Cambridge, next Wednesday.
all welcome!
Best wishes, Jeremy Butterfield
-----------------
Philosophy of Physics One Day Conference
Damtp, Cambridge: Weds 6 June 2018.
Location: 09.00 till 18.00 in MR 11.
(This is in Pavilion B, 'beyond the café', first floor)
09.30-10.30: Katie Robertson (Cambridge): The Image of the Second Law
In this talk, I consider what the realiser or 'image' of the Second Law of
thermodynamics should be in statistical mechanics. I start by noting some
of the unusual features of thermodynamics, before focussing on the Second
Law. The Second Law has been responsible for some grandiose claims, for
instance, Atkins claims: "The second law is one of the all-time great laws
of science, for it illuminates why anything - anything from the cooling of
hot matter to the formulation of a thought - happens at all." But, in
agreement with much of the philosophy of physics literature, I think some
of these claims are just hot air. Following Uffink and Brown, I explicate
the nature of the Second Law - and distinguish it from the Minus First Law.
But should we think that the Second Law is true? The discovery of different
demons motivates a Maxwellian 'means-relative' view of thermodynamics. But
I argue that the 'means' are ultimately determined by the lower-level
theory: statistical mechanics. Thus, I outline how quasi-static processes
should be considered in statistical mechanics. Finally, I discuss the sense
in which Landauer's principle slays Maxwell's demon.
10.30-11.30 : Bobby Vos (Cambridge) Towards a Pluralist Approach to Logical
Abstractivism
Since the days of its inception, the philosophy of science has been
strongly intertwined with the discipline of logic. Yet, despite much effort
both within and outside of the positivist research programme, philosophers
of science have not succeeded in expounding a logical reconstruction of
science that comes anywhere near its metamathematical counterpart in terms
of systematicity, fruitfulness or uptake by the academic community.
In this talk, I examine an attempt to reinvigorate the logical
study of science by using tools from the field of abstract model theory, as
proposed by philosopher-logicians David Pearce and Veikko Rantala. Central
to this undertaking is an abstract view of logic, in which 'a logic' is
construed as being a mathematical structure satisfying a number of base
requirements.
After providing a brief overview of the most important frameworks
for the formal study of science as well as the formalism of abstract model
theory, I discuss how Pearce and Rantala seek to bring these two together.
Following this exposition, I argue that the Pearce-Rantala approach, which
I characterize as promoting 'logical liberalization', fails to make full
use of the potential offered by the abstract view of logic. I continue by
showing how a number of recent developments within abstract model theory
suggest a new manner in which to apply model-theoretic methods to the
analysis of science. I conclude by arguing that abstract model theory is
best used to promote 'logical pluralization', rather than logical
liberalization, in the philosophy of science.
11.30-12.00: Coffee
12.00-13.00: Tushar Menon (Oxford): Desperate Spacetimes call for Desperate
Measures
Supersymmetry (SUSY) is a proposed symmetry between bosons and fermions.
The structure of the space of SUSY generators is such that the distinction
between internal and spacetime symmetries is blurred. As a result, there
are two viable candidates for the correct spacetime setting for a flat
supersymmetric field theory---Minkowski spacetime and superspace. an
extension of four- dimensional Minkowski spacetime to include (at least)
four new dimensions, coordinatised by mathematical objects known as
supernumbers. These objects are, in one significant way, quite different
from real or complex numbers---some of them have the property that their
order of multiplication makes a difference; in mathematical terms, they are
said to have nontrivial commutation properties. In this talk, I argue for
two theses: first, that one standard set of arguments, related to
universality of symmetry behaviour, that motivate a particular choice of
spacetime structure in familiar spacetime theories motivates the choice of
superspace as the appropriate spacetime for SUSY field theories. And
second, that the metaphysical utility of the concept of spacetime requires
more than just the satisfaction of this universality condition; in
supersymmetric theories, the spacetime concept is not as useful as in
special relativity.
13.00 - 14.00: Lunch
14.00 - 15.00: Sally Shrapnel (Queensland):
Classical and quantum causal inference -- what's the difference?
15.00 - 16.00: Henrique Gomes (Perimeter Institute): Why go spatial?
Shape dynamics is usually introduced from relational demands. Common
complaints are: i) that this demand relies on spatial, not spacetime
relationalism, ii) that it sounds a bit like empiricism and iii) that it
still relies on knowing GR, which comes from a spacetime view. Here I will
argue for spatial relationalism from a different perspective --- that of
quantum gravity. This approach evades counter-arguments i) and ii). I will
discuss a host of issues arising in the quantization of the principle of
relativity of simultaneity, which go beyond what is usually termed "The
problem of time". I will then argue for spatial relationalism as the
solution to these issues. Relativity of simultaneity need only be an
emergent symmetry --- it emerges only when the gravitational degrees of
freedom approximately satisfy the equations of motion. I will then build
'shape dynamics' as a unique theory satisfying the general principles of
spatial relationalism above and obeying local energy conservation laws.
16.00 - 16.30: Tea
16.30 - 17.30: Seth Lloyd (MIT): Spacetime as quantum computation
This talk discusses relationships between quantum gravity and quantum
information theory. Three topics are reviewed:
1. Entanglement, entropy-area laws, and Einstein's equations.
2 The relationship between the Wheeler DeWitt equation, quantum
time, and Hamiltonian models of quantum computation.
3. The proposal that spacetime can be regarded as a quantum
computation or tensor network.
Many open questions remain.
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