ERC PROJECT PHILOSOPHY OF CANONICAL QUANTUM GRAVITY
October 24–27, 2017,
Institut des hautes études scientifiques (IHES), Bures-sur-Yvette
The main goal of this workshop is to bring together internationally renowned physicists and philosophers to explore the various possible modes of collaborations enabled by the current status of the theories seeking the unification of quantum mechanics and gravity. It will focus on transversal questions, and more particularly on the principles and methods employed in quantum gravity. We shall try, as far as possible, not to confine the discussions to epistemological clarifications of the “foundations”, but to show instead that the questions at stake might be potentially as important and general in their consequences as were those raised, at the beginning of the 20th century, by the theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics.
Indeed, quantum gravity reactivates long-standing questions about the relation between physical theories and empirical observations, the exact role (foundational or merely heuristic) of “principles”, the identification of the basic objects or structures of a theory (problems of reduction and emergence), the mathematical characterisation of becoming and the meaning of time, the singularity of the object “universe”, the stability of the laws of nature, etc.
The four days of conferences will be organized around the following thematic units : the principles of quantum gravity, black holes, holographic correspondences, quantum cosmology, emergence of spacetime, the status of time in quantum gravity and quantum geometries.
This workshop also aims to provide students and young researchers with an overview of the major conceptual issues of this vast field of research.
Registration : Participation to the workshop is free. For lunch, there will be an optional catering service (10€/lunch).
To register, please send us an email with your last name, first name and affiliation to erc.philoquantumgravity[at]gmail.com and indicate whether you wish to use the catering service.
and all informations : program, ...
Organizers :
Gabriel Catren (CNRS, SPHERE, ERC project PhiloQuantum Gravity), Thibault Damour (IHES), Elie During (Univ. Paris Ouest Nanterre, IRePh), Federico Zalamea (CNRS, SPHERE, ERC project PhiloQuantum Gravity)
Speakers | Institution |
Costas Bachas |
Department of Physics, Ecole Normale Supérieure |
Michel Bitbol | Archives Husserl, CNRS |
Steven Carlip | Department of Physics, University of California Davis |
Alain Connes | Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques |
Erik Curiel | Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy |
Dennis Dieks | University of Utrecht |
Yuval Dolev | Department of Philosophy, Bar-Ilan University |
Sebastian de Haro | University of Amsterdam |
Gary Horowitz | Department of Physics, University of California Santa Barbara |
Theodore Jacobson | Department of Physics, University of Maryland |
Claus Kiefer | Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne |
Carlo Rovelli | Center of Theoretical Physics, Luminy |
Gabriele Veneziano | Theoretical Physics Department, CERN |
Tiziana Vistarini | Department of Philosophy, University of Colorado Boulder |
Schedule (tbc)
Heure | Tuesday 10/24 | Wednesday 10/25 | Thursday 10/26 | Friday 10/27 |
9:30 11:00 |
Gabriele Veneziano tba |
Costas Bachas Holographic Dualities and Quantum Gravity |
Dennis Dieks Physical and Experiential Time |
Ted Jacobson What Can Black Holes Teach Us About Quantum Gravity ? |
11:00 11:30 |
Coffee Break | Coffee Break | Coffee Break | Coffee Break |
11:30 13:00 |
Steven Carlip Why We Need Quantum Gravity and Why We Don’t Have It |
Sebastian de Haro Dualities and Emergence |
Yuval Dolev Time, Experience and Quantum Gravity |
Erik Curiel tba |
13:00 14:30 |
Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch |
14:30 16:00 |
Carlo Rovelli Physics and Philosophy of Quantum Gravity : What I Think We Have Understood and What We Do Not Know |
Alain Connes Why Four Dimensions and the Standard Model Coupled to Gravity - A Tentative Explanation From the New Geometric Paradigm of NCG |
Gary Horowitz Spacetime in String Theory |
Claus Kiefer Conceptual Issues in Quantum Cosmology |
16:00 16:30 |
Coffee Break | Coffee Break | Coffee Break | Coffee Break |
16:30 18:00 |
Michel Bitbol A Philosophy of Physics in the First Person |
Tiziana Vistarini tba |
Presentation | Practical Information |
Members | Calls for application |
Seminar "Philosophy & mathematical physics" |
Seminar "(Id)entity : : (Id)entification" |
This workshop has received funding from the European Research Council, undert the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013 Grant Agreement N° 263523, ERC Project PhiloQuantumGravity).