MCMP – Philosophy of Physics
65 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 5 years ago - ★★★★★ - 3 ratingsMathematical Philosophy - the application of logical and mathematical methods in philosophy - is about to experience a tremendous boom in various areas of philosophy. At the new Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, which is funded mostly by the German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, philosophical research will be carried out mathematically, that is, by means of methods that are very close to those used by the scientists.
The purpose of doing philosophy in this way is not to reduce philosophy to mathematics or to natural science in any sense; rather mathematics is applied in order to derive philosophical conclusions from philosophical assumptions, just as in physics mathematical methods are used to derive physical predictions from physical laws.
Nor is the idea of mathematical philosophy to dismiss any of the ancient questions of philosophy as irrelevant or senseless: although modern mathematical philosophy owes a lot to the heritage of the Vienna and Berlin Circles of Logical Empiricism, unlike the Logical Empiricists most mathematical philosophers today are driven by the same traditional questions about truth, knowledge, rationality, the nature of objects, morality, and the like, which were driving the classical philosophers, and no area of traditional philosophy is taken to be intrinsically misguided or confused anymore. It is just that some of the traditional questions of philosophy can be made much clearer and much more precise in logical-mathematical terms, for some of these questions answers can be given by means of mathematical proofs or models, and on this basis new and more concrete philosophical questions emerge. This may then lead to philosophical progress, and ultimately that is the goal of the Center.
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Episodes
Shape Dynamics
April 18, 2019 16:30 - 32 minutes - 496 MB VideoTim A. Koslowski (New Brunswick) gives a talk at the Mini-Workshop on the Foundations of Shape Dynamics (23 June, 2014) titled "Shape Dynamics". Abstract: 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 ...
Bohmian Mechanics, speakable quantum physics
April 18, 2019 14:33 - 1 hour - 1.17 GB VideoDetlef Dürr (LMU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (23 January, 2013) titled "Bohmian Mechanics, speakable quantum physics". Abstract: I introduce Bohmian Mechanics, which is a theory of particles in motion. The law of motion is not classical, i.e. the particles do not move on Newtonian trajectories. As this is often not appreciated I shall discuss some features which will help to sharpen one's intuition about this theory of nature.
Quantisation as a guide to ontic structure
April 18, 2019 14:12 - 45 minutes - 708 MB VideoKarim Thébault (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (9 January, 2013) titled "Quantisation as a guide to ontic structure". Abstract: The ontic structural realist stance is motivated by a desire to do philosophical justice to the success of science, whilst withstanding the metaphysical undermining generated by the various species of ontological underdetermination. We are, however, as yet in want of general principles to provide a scaffold for the explicit construction of structura...
Gravity. An exercise in quantization
April 18, 2019 14:04 - 42 minutes - 646 MB VideoIgor Khavkine (Utrecht) gives a talk at the MCMP workshop "Quantum Gravity in Perspective" (31 May-1 June, 2013) titled "Gravity. An exercise in quantization". Abstract: The quantization of General Relativity (GR) is an old and chellenging prob- lem that is in many ways still awaiting a satisfactory solution. GR is a partic- ularly complicated field theory in several respects: non-linearity, gauge invari- ance, dynamibal causal structure, renormalization, singularities, infared effects. Fortu...
Against Dogma: Locality, Conditionalisation, and Collapse in Relativistic Quantum Mechanics
April 18, 2019 13:42 - 54 minutes - 839 MB VideoThomas Pashby (Pittsburgh) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (28 May, 2014) titled "Against Dogma: Locality, Conditionalisation, and Collapse in Relativistic Quantum Mechanics". Abstract: I argue here against the widespread view (due to David Malament) that the non-commutativity of non-instantaneous localisation projections implies the existence of act-outcome correlations in relativistic QM. There are two facets to my argument: first, I claim that the interpretation of collapse as a proces...
An Introduction to Shape Dynamics: a New Perspective on Quantum Gravity
April 18, 2019 13:40 - 37 minutes - 566 MB VideoSean Gryb (Nijmegen) gives a talk at the Mini-Workshop on the Foundations of Shape Dynamics (23 June, 2014) titled "An Introduction to Shape Dynamics: a New Perspective on Quantum Gravity". Abstract: 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...
How to Bite the Bullet of Quidditism - Why a Standard Argument against Categoricalism in Physics Fails
April 18, 2019 13:38 - 39 minutes - 601 MB VideoAndreas Barrels (Bonn) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (7 May, 2014) titled "How to Bite the Bullet of Quidditism - Why a Standard Argument against Categoricalism in Physics Fails". Abstract: Categoricalism is the statement that fundamental properties of physics are categorical, i.e., they have their dispositional characters not with metaphysical necessity. According to Black (2000), Bird (2005, 2007), and Esfeld (2009), categoricalism entails quidditism, the possible existence of propert...
Best Possible Worlds and Random Walks: The Principle of Least Action as a Thought Experiment
April 11, 2018 15:12 - 33 minutes - 506 MB VideoMichael Stöltzner (South Carolina) gives a talk at the Irvine-Munich Workshop on the Foundations of Classical and Quantum Field Theories (14 December, 2014) titled "Best Possible Worlds and Random Walks: The Principle of Least Action as a Thought Experiment". Abstract: Over the centuries, no other principle of classical physics has to a larger extent nourished exalted hopes of a universal theory, has constantly been plagued by mathematical counterexamples, and has ignited metaphysical controv...
Physics without Fundamental Time
July 10, 2015 02:00 - 43 minutes - 666 MB VideoCarlo Rovelli (Aix-Marseille) gives a talk at the Workshop on the Problem of Time in Perspective (3-4 July, 2015) titled "Physics without Fundamental Time". Abstract: Rivers of ink have flown on the basic conceptual structure of quantum gravity -a theory where we expect the notions of classical spacetime, particles, fields, energy and momentum to require substantial revision-. I discuss a specific solution to these questions and apply concretely it to a physical calculation, the tunneling tim...
The Intrinsic Hamilton-Jacobi Dynamics of General Relativity and its Implications for the Semi-Classical Emergence of Time
July 09, 2015 09:00 - 48 minutes - 747 MB VideoDonald Salisbury (Austin) gives a talk at the Workshop on the Problem of Time in Perspective (3-4 July, 2015) titled "The Intrinsic Hamilton-Jacobi Dynamics of General Relativity and its Implications for the Semi-Classical Emergence of Time". Abstract: The quantization of the general theory of relativity is notoriously difficult, in particular on account of the underlying general covariance and the consequent appearance of constraints in the classical Hamiltonian theory. The notion of time in...
Discrete Time in Quantum Gravity
July 09, 2015 08:00 - 39 minutes - 598 MB VideoFrancesca Vidotto (Radboud) gives a talk at the Workshop on the Problem of Time in Perspective (3-4 July, 2015) titled "Discrete Time in Quantum Gravity". Abstract: We study the quantization of geometry in the presence of a cosmological constant, using a discretiza- tion with constant-curvature simplices. Phase space turns out to be compact and the Hilbert space finite dimensional for each link. Not only the intrinsic, but also the extrinsic geometry turns out to be discrete, pointing to disc...
Timeless Quantum Mechanics in Configuration Space: an Outsider View
July 09, 2015 07:00 - 43 minutes - 669 MB VideoHenrique Gomes (Perimeter Institute) gives a talk at the Workshop on the Problem of Time in Perspective (3-4 July, 2015) titled "Timeless Quantum Mechanics in Configuration Space: an Outsider View". Abstract: In this talk, I will explore a timeless interpretation of quantum mechanics of closed systems, solely in terms of path integrals in non-relativistic timeless configuration space. What prompts a fresh look at the foundational problems in this context, is the advent of multiple gravitation...
In Favour of a Schrödinger Evolution of the Universe
July 09, 2015 06:00 - 41 minutes - 638 MB VideoSean Gryb (Radboud) gives a talk at the Workshop on the Problem of Time in Perspective (3-4 July, 2015) titled "In Favour of a Schrödinger Evolution of the Universe". Abstract: In the canonical formulation of reparametrization invariant systems, time evolution on phase space is generated by a fully constrained Hamiltonian. On the orthodoxy view, the quantum formalism for such systems is constructed through Dirac quantization, which leads to a real, time-independent constraint on the quantum s...
The Consistent Boundary Formulation
July 09, 2015 05:00 - 42 minutes - 659 MB VideoBianca Dittrich (Perimeter Institute) gives a talk at the Workshop on the Problem of Time in Perspective (3-4 July, 2015) titled "The Consistent Boundary Formulation". Abstract: I will introduce the consistent boundary formulation which allows to express renormalization flow in a background independent context. I will discuss consequences of this formulation for the Hamiltonian framework and explore in which sense Hamiltonian constraints do actually exists in this context and how this influen...
Constraints, Dirac Observables and Chaos
July 09, 2015 04:00 - 52 minutes - 796 MB VideoPhilipp Hoehn (Perimeter Institute) gives a talk at the Workshop on the Problem of Time in Perspective (3-4 July, 2015) titled "Constraints, Dirac Observables and Chaos". Abstract: I will discuss fundamental challenges to the standard relational paradigm arising from chaotic dynamics.
Changing Observables in Canonical General Relativity from Hamiltonian-Lagrangian Equivalence
July 09, 2015 03:00 - 39 minutes - 606 MB VideoJ. Brian Pitts (Cambridge) gives a talk at the Workshop on the Problem of Time in Perspective (3-4 July, 2015) titled "Changing Observables in Canonical General Relativity from Hamiltonian-Lagrangian Equivalence". Abstract: Is change missing in classical canonical General Relativity? If one insists on Hamiltonian-Lagrangian equivalence, then there is Hamiltonian change just when there is no time-like Killing vector field. Change has seemed missing partly due to Dirac’s belief that a first-cla...
First-Class Constraints, Gauge, and the Wheeler-DeWitt Equation
July 09, 2015 02:00 - 45 minutes - 700 MB VideoOliver Pooley (Oxford) gives a talk at the Workshop on the Problem of Time in Perspective (3-4 July, 2015) titled "First-Class Constraints, Gauge, and the Wheeler-DeWitt Equation". Abstract: Recently, Pitts (2014) has argued that the claim that first-class constraints generate gauge transformations (hereafter “orthodoxy”) fails even in electromagnetism, which is standardly taken to illustrate its correctness. Independently, Barbour and Foster (2008) have argued that a key presupposition of th...
The Gravitational Arrow of Time
July 09, 2015 01:00 - 51 minutes - 782 MB VideoTim A. Koslowski (Brunswick) gives a talk at the Workshop on the Problem of Time in Perspective (3-4 July, 2015) titled "The Gravitational Arrow of Time". Abstract: The arrow of time appears to always to point in one direction (i.e. we can clearly tell whether a movie is played forward or backward) although the underlying physics is time-reversal symmetric. The most widely accepted explanation for this is that the experienced arrow is the thermodynamic arrow of time (i.e. the direction of ent...
Facets of Time in Physics
July 09, 2015 00:00 - 45 minutes - 695 MB VideoKurt Sundermeyer (FU Berlin/MPIWG) gives a talk at the Workshop on the Problem of Time in Perspective (3-4 July, 2015) titled "Facets of Time in Physics". Abstract: In an attempt to understand slogans such as "The End Of Time", "Forget About Time", "Time Reborn", "Time Remains", I started to write an essay about the various notions of time in physics (with a glimpse to philosophy) from classical mechanics to quantum gravity. By this curiosity-driven motivation I realized that there are not on...
A Categorial Approach to Relativistic Locality
May 28, 2015 11:00 - 55 minutes - 846 MB VideoMiklós Rédei (LSE) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (13 May, 2015) titled "A Categorial Approach to Relativistic Locality". Abstract: In the talk relativistic locality of a probabilistic physical theory is interpreted as an interconnected web of properties which express compatibility of the theory with the underlying causal structure of spacetime. Four components of this web are distinguished: spatiotemporal locality, causal locality-Independence, causal locality-Dependence, and causal lo...
Bayesian Perspectives on the Higgs Search
May 11, 2015 05:03 - 52 minutes - 804 MB VideoRichard Dawid (MCMP) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (29 April, 2015) titled "Bayesian Perspectives on the Higgs Search". Abstract: The history of the Higgs discovery is characterized by a specific constellation: trust in the existence of a Higgs particle was very strong already before the particle's discovery. This raises the issue of a Bayesian perspective on data analysis in high energy physics in an interesting way that differs from other contexts in the field where the deployment of ...
Dualities
February 20, 2015 00:45 - 45 minutes - 699 MB VideoElena Castellani (Florence) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (28 January, 2015) titled "Dualities". Abstract: Dualities are a key, intriguing ingredient in mathematics, logic and physics. This talk is concerned with physical dualities, in particular those dualities that have played "a central role in mapping out the structure of theoretical physics" in the past two decades (quoting Polchinski, 2015). Despite the importance of duality in field and string theory, philosophers are just starti...
QBism and the Born rule
February 10, 2015 09:22 - 59 minutes - 907 MB VideoRüdiger Schack (Royal Holloway London) gives a talk at the Workshop on Quantum Computation, Quantum Information, and the Exact Sciences (30-31 January, 2015) titled "QBism and the Born rule". Abstract: By adopting a strictly personalist approach to probability, QBism takes the view that quantum states, and therefore also quantum information, reflect an agent’s personal degrees of belief about the consequences of his actions on the world. The quantum formalism enables the agent to make better ...
Quantum Information: Conceptual and Ontological Aspects
February 10, 2015 08:21 - 55 minutes - 847 MB VideoChris Timpson (Brasenose College, Oxford) gives a talk at the Workshop on Quantum Computation, Quantum Information, and the Exact Sciences (30-31 January, 2015) titled "Quantum Information: Conceptual and Ontological Aspects". Abstract: In this talk I will explore some ways of thinking about what quantum information is. This topic has a certain intrinsic interest, but it is also important when trying to assess in a careful way what role the concept of information might have to play in fundame...
Corpuscular Structure of Geometry
February 10, 2015 00:24 - 1 hour - 943 MB VideoGia Dvali (LMU-MPI & NYU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (14 January, 2015) titled "Corpuscular structure of geometry". Abstract: We review some recent ideas on quantum-corpuscular structure of gravitational metric backgrounds, such as black holes and cosmological spaces. We show how this picture sheds light on seemingly-mysterious properties, such as, black hole information processing and evaporation, as well as how it excludes eternal de Sitter space. This picture sheds a very differe...
A New Prescription for the Quantization of Refoliation Invariant Field Theories
December 31, 2014 06:43 - 41 minutes - 640 MB VideoKarim Thebault (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the Irvine-Munich Workshop on the Foundations of Classical and Quantum Field Theories (14 December, 2014) titled "A New Prescription for the Quantization of Refoliation Invariant Field Theories". Abstract: Imagine a loaf of bread that we can irregularly cut up into a sequence of slices. The loaf is spacetime and the slices are instantaneous spatial surfaces. A foliation is a parameterization of a spacetime by a time ordered sequence of spatial slices....
Unitary Inequivalence in Classical Systems
December 31, 2014 05:39 - 29 minutes - 458 MB VideoBen Feintzeig (UC Irvine) gives a talk at the Irvine-Munich Workshop on the Foundations of Classical and Quantum Field Theories (14 December, 2014) titled "Unitary Inequivalence in Classical Systems". Abstract: I provide an algebraic formulation of classical field theories and use this to probe our interpretation of algebraic theories more generally. I show that the problem of unitarily inequivalent representations, as discussed in Ruetsche (2011), arises in classical theories just as in quan...
Relativistic Quantum Particles the Feynman Way
December 31, 2014 04:36 - 38 minutes - 589 MB VideoBrian Padden (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the Irvine-Munich Workshop on the Foundations of Classical and Quantum Field Theories (14 December, 2014) titled "Relativistic Quantum Particles the Feynman Way". Abstract: It is often believed, especially in light of theorems by Malament and others, that there is no relativistic theory of localizable quantum particles. However, an example of exactly such a theory seems to exist, and in fact occupies an important place in the storied history of quantum ...
Classical Field Theory and Intertheoretic Reduction
December 31, 2014 03:34 - 40 minutes - 616 MB VideoSamuel Fletcher (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the Irvine-Munich Workshop on the Foundations of Classical and Quantum Field Theories (14 December, 2014) titled "Classical Field Theory and Intertheoretic Reduction". Abstract: In 1986, Ehlers set out a program on how to understanding the approximative relationships between different physical theories. However, he essentially only investigated the case of classical and relativistic spacetime theories, which have a number of special features that dis...
On Fiber Bundle and Holonomy Interpretations of Yang-Mills Theories
December 31, 2014 02:33 - 17 minutes - 267 MB VideoSarita Rosenstock (UC Irvine) gives a talk at the Irvine-Munich Workshop on the Foundations of Classical and Quantum Field Theories (14 December, 2014) titled "On Fiber Bundle and Holonomy Interpretations of Yang-Mills Theories". Abstract: In the philosophy of Yang-Mills theories, there is an ongoing debate between rival interpretations that can be grouped into two rough categories: “holonomy interpretations” (supported by, e.g., Healey, Belot, and Lyre) and “fiber bundle interpretations” (su...
Fiber Bundles, Yang-Mills Theory, and General Relativity
December 31, 2014 01:28 - 51 minutes - 792 MB VideoJames Weatherall (UC Irvine) gives a talk at the Irvine-Munich Workshop on the Foundations of Classical and Quantum Field Theories (14 December) titled "Fiber Bundles, Yang-Mills Theory, and General Relativity". Abstract: I articulate and discuss a geometrical interpretation of Yang-Mills theory. Analogies and disanalogies between Yang-Mills theory and general relativity are also considered.
A Trope Bundle Interpretation of Algebraic Quantum Field Theory
December 31, 2014 00:05 - 54 minutes - 840 MB VideoMeinard Kuhlmann (Mainz) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (10 December, 2014) titled "A Trope Bundle Interpretation of Algebraic Quantum Field Theory". Abstract: Algebraic quantum field theory (AQFT) is a conceptually lucid reformulation of the conventional theory of quantum fields. I consider AQFT to be the appropriate starting point for ontological considerations about QFT because, like the philosophical discipline of ontology, AQFT strives for a clear, justified and parsimonious separat...
The Primitive Ontology of Quantum Physics
December 18, 2014 11:01 - 47 minutes - 732 MB VideoMichael Esfeld (Lausanne) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (26 November, 2014) titled "The Primitive Ontology of Quantum Physics". Abstract: In this talk, I will first recall the arguments why we need what is known as a primitive ontology of quantum physics and then argue that this ontology consists in primitive stuff that is structurally individuated through metrical relations (but without a commitment to absolute space). Against this background, the only reason to admit physical properti...
QBism: A Subjective Way to Take Ontic Indeterminism Seriously
December 18, 2014 08:54 - 57 minutes - 880 MB VideoChristopher Fuchs (MPQ Garching) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (20 November, 2014) titled "QBism: A Subjective Way to Take Ontic Indeterminism Seriously". Abstract: The term QBism, invented in 2009, initially stood for Quantum Bayesianism, a view of quantum theory a few of us had been developing since 1993. Eventually, however, I. J. Good's warning that there are 46,656 varieties of Bayesianism came to bite us, with some Bayesians feeling their good name had been hijacked. David Mermin ...
Reduction and the Ontology of Physical Theories
October 16, 2014 01:06 - 1 hour - 1.06 GB VideoTim Maudlin (NYU) meets Sebastian Lutz (MCMP/LMU) in a joint session on "Reduction and the Ontology of Physical Theories" at the MCMP workshop "Bridges 2014" (2 and 3 Sept, 2014, German House, New York City). The 2-day trans-continental meeting in mathematical philosophy focused on inter-theoretical relations thereby connecting form and content of this philosophical exchange. Idea and motivation: We use theories to explain, to predict and to instruct, to talk about our world and order the obj...
New Work on the Problem of Time
February 21, 2014 11:43 - 1 hour - 1.34 GB VideoOliver Pooley (Oxford) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (22 January, 2014) titled "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 Bohmian challenge
February 18, 2014 04:03 - 50 minutes - 773 MB VideoHeinz-Jürgen Schmidt (Osnabrück) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (27 November, 2013) titled "The Bohmian challenge". Abstract: The Bohmian extension of quantum theory claims to solve the measurement problem by re-establishing, in some sense, the classical ontology of particle trajectories on a microscopic level. In this talk I will not dwell upon the pros and cons to this claim but rather try to explain why this enterprise constitutes a challenge for philosophy of science, especially for ...
Are Classical Black Holes Hot or Cold?
February 13, 2014 01:19 - 1 hour - 915 MB VideoErik Curiel (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (18 December, 2013) titled "Are Classical Black Holes Hot or Cold?". Abstract: In the early 1970s it is was realized that there is a striking formal analogy between the so-called laws of black-hole mechanics and the laws of classical thermodynamics. Before the discovery of Hawking radiation, however, it was generally thought that the analogy was only formal, and did not reflect a deep connection between gravitational and thermodynami...
Emergent spacetime in condensed matter analogues of general relativity
January 23, 2014 02:49 - 33 minutes - 512 MB VideoKaren Crowther (Sydney) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (13 November, 2013) titled "Emergent spacetime in condensed matter analogues of general relativity". Abstract: It has been claimed, based on a few different lines of reasoning, that the notion of spacetime will not appear in a quantum theory of gravity. If this is the case, then spacetime is an emergent concept. Analogue models of general relativity based in condensed matter systems present us with concrete examples of emergent space...
Things happen, they just happen in a partial order
November 06, 2013 22:17 - 50 minutes - 773 MB VideoFay Dowker (Imperial College London) gives a talk at the 17th UK and European Meeting on the Foundations of Physics (29-31 July, 2013) titled "Things happen, they just happen in a partial order". Abstract: In causal set quantum gravity spacetime is hypothesized to be atomic and causal order is the most basic organising principle. Fundamental discreteness brings with it novel possibilities for "dynamical laws" in which spacetime grows by the accumulation of new atoms, potentially realising wit...
From the microscopic to the macroscopic world
November 06, 2013 21:16 - 45 minutes - 692 MB VideoJean Bricmont (Université catholique de Louvain) gives a talk at the 17th UK and European Meeting on the Foundations of Physics (29-31 July, 2013) titled "From the microscopic to the macroscopic world". Abstract: The derivation of the laws describing the macroscopic world from those governing the microscopic one is a very difficult problem. The root of the difficulty is sometimes seen as arising from the fact that the first set of laws are often time-irreversible, while the second ones are ...
A Dynamical Origin of the Arrow of Time
November 06, 2013 21:05 - 1 hour - 953 MB VideoJulian Barbour (Oxford) gives an evening lecture at the 17th UK and European Meeting on the Foundations of Physics (29-31 July, 2013) titled "A Dynamical Origin of the Arrow of Time".
On Causal Explanations of Quantum Correlations
November 06, 2013 15:30 - 58 minutes - 890 MB VideoRobert Spekkens (Perimeter Institute) gives a talk at the 17th UK and European Meeting on the Foundations of Physics (29-31 July, 2013) titled "On Causal Explanations of Quantum Correlations". Abstract: If correlation does not imply causation, then what does? Causal discovery algorithms take as their input facts about correlations among a set of observed variables, and they return as their output causal structures that can account for the correlations. We show that any causal explanation of B...
Inertia and the Conformal-Projective Decomposition for Nordström-Einstein-Fokker, Massive Scalar, Einstein, and Massive Spin 2 Gravities
November 06, 2013 15:27 - 31 minutes - 473 MB VideoJ. Brian Pitts (Cambridge) gives a talk in the colloquium "On the Split Between Gravity and Inertia in Different Spacetime Theories" at the 17th UK and European Meeting on the Foundations of Physics (29-31 July, 2013) titled "Inertia and the Conformal-Projective Decomposition for Nordström-Einstein-Fokker, Massive Scalar, Einstein, and Massive Spin 2 Gravities". Abstract: The Ehlers-Pirani-Schild (EPS) construction, which derives a metric tensor from a projective connection and a conformal me...
The Gravity-Inertia split in Newtonian and Relativistic Contexts
November 06, 2013 15:26 - 26 minutes - 403 MB VideoEleanor Knox (London) gives a talk in the colloquium "On the Split Between Gravity and Inertia in Different Spacetime Theories" at the 17th UK and European Meeting on the Foundations of Physics (29-31 July, 2013) titled "The Gravity-Inertia split in Newtonian and Relativistic Contexts". Abstract: Relative to Newton-Cartan theory, Newtonian gravitation involves the split- ting of a single curved connection into gravitational and inertial parts. I examine the prospects for imposing an analogous...
Against the Gravity/Inertia split?
November 06, 2013 15:24 - 31 minutes - 478 MB VideoDennis Lehmkuhl (Wuppertal) and Oliver Pooley (Oxford) give a talk in the colloquium "On the Split Between Gravity and Inertia in Different Spacetime Theories" at the 17th UK and European Meeting on the Foundations of Physics (29-31 July, 2013) titled "Against the Gravity/Inertia split?". Abstract: To make sense of talk of a frame-dependent inertia–gravity split in General relativity, one needs to relate the theory to Newtonian gravity, and to recognise that two routes to privileged frames of...
Barbour's Shape Space as an Ontology for Gravity
November 06, 2013 15:13 - 27 minutes - 422 MB VideoSean Gryb (Radboud) gives a talk in the colloquium "Journeys in Platonia: Celebrating 50 Years Since The End of Time" at the 17th UK and European Meeting on the Foundations of Physics (29-31 July, 2013) titled "Barbour's Shape Space as an Ontology for Gravity". Abstract: I will give a personal account of the development of the conformally invariant version of ‘Shape Dynamics’. The story will be told from three perspectives: i) a historical one, highlighting the role of College Farm and the un...
Kendall’s Shape Statistics as a Classical Realization of Barbour-type Timeless Records Theory Approach to Quantum Gravity
November 06, 2013 15:11 - 32 minutes - 497 MB VideoEdward Anderson (Paris Diderot and Cambridge) gives a talk in the colloquium "Journeys in Platonia: Celebrating 50 Years Since The End of Time" at the 17th UK and European Meeting on the Foundations of Physics (29-31 July, 2013) titled "Kendall’s Shape Statistics as a Classical Realization of Barbour-type Timeless Records Theory Approach to Quantum Gravity". Abstract: I already showed that Kendall’s shape geometry work was the geometrical description of Barbour’s relational mechanics’ reduced...
Leibniz, Mach and Barbour
November 06, 2013 15:08 - 38 minutes - 580 MB VideoHarvey Brown (Oxford) gives a talk in the colloquium "Journeys in Platonia: Celebrating 50 Years Since The End of Time" at the 17th UK and European Meeting on the Foundations of Physics (29-31 July, 2013) titled "Leibniz, Mach and Barbour". Abstract: My comments will be concerned with the way that Leibniz's and Mach's thinking on the nature of space have influenced Julian Barbour's approach to the formulation of dynamical theories.
The Neglect of Fluctuations in the Thermodynamics of Computation
November 06, 2013 14:21 - 1 hour - 972 MB VideoJohn D. Norton (Pittsburgh) gives a talk at the 17th UK and European Meeting on the Foundations of Physics (29-31 July, 2013) titled "The Neglect of Fluctuations in the Thermodynamics of Computation". Abstract: The thermodynamics of computation assumes that thermodynamically reversible processes can be realized arbitrarily closely at molecular scales. They cannot. Overcoming fluctuations so that a molecular scale process can be completed creates more thermodynamic entropy than the small quant...