Quantum Gravity in Perspective (31 May - 1 June, 2013)
Idea and Motivation
The search for a theory which would unite the insights of general relativity with those of quantum theory, a theory of quantum gravity, has now lasted the better part of a century. Although a number of promising candidate theories have emerged (string theory and loop quantum gravity being the most prominent), a large array of conceptual, formal and methodological issues are still unresolved. The increasingly fractured nature of the field – with long standing and well publicised disagreements over the premisses, goals and criteria for evaluation relevant to a 'theory of quantum gravity' – might be seen as one significant factor impeding progress. With this in mind, the aim of this workshop is to bring together physicists, philosophers and historians with interests in various approaches to quantum gravity towards a mutually beneficial cross-pollination of ideas. By looking at the problem of quantum gravity from a variety of different perspectives, it is hoped, we will all be able to see a little further.
Program
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 09:00 | Claus Kiefer (Cologne): Quantum Geometrodynamics - Whence, Whither |
| 09:50 | Johanna Erdmenge (Heisenberg Institute): New Dualities Between Gauge Theories and Gravity |
| 10:40 | Coffee Break |
| 11:00 | Sabine Hossenfelder (NORDITA): Experimental Searche for Quantum Gravity |
| 12:00 | Robert Helling (LMU Munich): The "Shut up and Calculate" Approach to Quantum Gravity |
| 12:50 | Lunch Break |
| 14:00 | Igor Khavkine (Utrecht): Gravity, An Exercise in Quantisation |
| 14:50 | Coffee Break |
| 15:10 | Dennis Lehmkuhl (Wuppertal): Einstein's Approach to Quantum Gravity |
| 16:00 | Alexander Blum (MPIWG): The Moving Frontier, How Quantum Gravity Became The Great Unsolved Problem of Modern Physics |
| 19:00 | Workshop Dinner at Kaisergarten |
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 09:00 | Chris Wuthrich (UCSD): Time and Space in Causal Set Theory |
| 09:50 | J. Brian Pitts (Cambridge): Real Change Happens in Hamiltonian Relativity, Just Ask the Lagrangian (about Time-like Killing Vectors, First-Class Constraints and Observables) |
| 10:40 | Coffe Break |
| 11:00 | Karim Thebault (LMU Munich): Time Remains |
| 11:50 | Daniele Oriti (Einstein Institute): Dissappearance and Emergence of Space and Time in Quantum Gravity |
| 12:50 | Lunch Break |
| 14:00 | Nazim Bouatta (Cambridge): On Emergence and Reduction in String Theory |
| 14:50 | Lunch Break |
| 15:10 | Richard Dawid (Vienna): String Theory, Final Theory Claim and Scientific Realism |
| 16:10 | Dean Rickles (Sydney): Dualities and the Physical Content of Theories |
Acknowledgement:
The conference is supported by the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP) and made possible through the generous support by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through a Humboldt Professorship.