2nd International Summer School in Philosophy of Physics: Probabilities in Physics (21-26 July 2014)
Idea and Motivation
Some of the most fundamental results from physics come in a probabilistic guise. For instance, quantum mechanics can only provide probabilities for the outcomes of measurements; various ensembles in statistical mechanics are characterized by their probability distributions, and many other models in physics are random in character. But why are probabilities so ubiquitous in physics? How can we interpret the probabilities from physical theories? Are they just some „descriptive fluff“ for conveniently representing certain patterns? Or are there ontic chances out there in the world? If so, can we think of them as dispositions or Popperian propensities? Are genuine chances compatible with determinism? And how do probabilities figure in the most prominent interpretations of quantum mechanics? These are some of the questions that we will discuss in this summer school, which addresses graduate students and postdocs from philosophy of physics and related fields.
Program
21.07. Monday
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22.07. Tuesday
| Time | Event |
|---|
| 09:00 |
Lecture: "Propensities and Pragmatism" (Slides, 178 KB) (Mauricio Suárez) |
| 10:30 |
Coffee Break |
| 11:00 |
Lecture: "On the Method of Arbitrary Functions" (Slides, 136 KB) (Jeremy Butterfield) |
| 12:30 |
Lunch |
| 14:00 |
Working Groups |
| 16:00 |
Coffee Break |
| 16:30 |
Student Presentation: On The Structure of Quantum Probabilities (Slides, 412 KB) (Ronnie Hermens) |
| 17:00 |
Student Presentation: Modeling the World by Minimizing Relative Entropy (Antoine van de Ven) |
| 17:30 |
Student Presentation: Self-Locating Uncertainty and the Origin of Probability in Everettian Quantum Mechanics (Paper, 175 KB)(Charles Sebens) |
| 18:00 |
Student Presentation: The Dispositional Property in Bohmian Mechanics: A Disposition of a Dynamical Structure? (Slides, 423 KB) (Vera Matarese) |
| 18:30 |
Dinner |
| 20:00 |
Evening Lecture: Jos Uffink (Slides, 338KB) |
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23.07. Wednesday
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24.07. Thursday
| Time | Event |
|---|
| 09:00 |
Lecture: "Quantum Mechanics as Quantum Measure Theory" (Slides, 95 KB) (Fay Dowker) |
| 10:30 |
Coffee Break |
| 11:00 |
Lecture: "The Difference Between the Past and the Future" (David Albert) |
| 12:30 |
Lunch |
| 14:00 |
Working Groups |
| 16:00 |
Coffee Break |
| 16:30 |
Student Presentation: Probabilities and Time Travel: Quantum Theory can Protect Closed Timelike Curves from Paradox (Slides, 627 KB) (John-Mark Allen) |
| 17:00 |
Student Presentation: Confirmation in the Multiverse: Lessons from the Everett Interpretation (Slides, 925 KB) (Alexander Franklin) |
| 17:30 |
Student Presentation: Humean Supervenience, Bohmian Mechanics, and Wave Function Realism: Can We Think of the Universal Wave Function as a Humean Law (Slides, 84 KB) (Keming Chen) |
| 18:00 |
Student Presentation: Quantum Darwinism and the Nature of Probabilities in the Quantum to Classical Transition (Slides, 1,4 MB)(Juan Campos) |
| 18:30 |
Dinner |
| 20:00 |
Evening Lecture: "Appeal to Typicality in Statistical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, and Probability Theory" (Slides, 96 KB) (Sheldon Goldstein) |
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25.07. Friday
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26.07. Saturday
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Information on Afternoon Working Groups
Acknowledgement
The conference is supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the LMU Doctoral Research Training of the Graduate Center and the University of Lausanne.
