The Problem of Time in Perspective (July 3-4, 2015)
Idea and Motivation
Whilst there is broad agreement that the canonical quantization of general relativity leads to an acute problem relating to time, there is not uniform consensus regarding either the nature of this 'problem of time in quantum gravity’, or the requirements for a satisfactory solution. Questions remain, for example, with regard to interpretation of the timeless Wheeler-de Witt formalism, the canonical representation of the spacetime diffeomorphism group, the formal and empirical status of observables and the relevance of the problem of time to other approaches to gravity.
Program
Day 1 (3 July 2015)
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 08:30 | Registration |
| 09:00 - 10.00 | Donald Salisbury (Austin): The Intrinsic Hamilton-Jacobi Dynamics of General Relativity and its Implications for the Semi-Classical Emergence of Time (Slides, 651 Kb) (Preprint @ arXiv.org) (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) Chair: Karim Thébault |
| 10:00 - 10:30 | Coffee |
| 10:30 - 11:30 | Henrique Gomes (Perimeter Institute): Timeless Configuration Space and the Emergence of Classical Behavior for Closed Systems (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) Chair: Richard Dawid |
| 11:30 - 12:45 | Alex Blum (MPIWG): How Quantum Theory Tried to Get Rid of Time and General Relativity Started Looking for it Comment: Brian Padden (MCMP/LMU) (Slides, 181 Kb) Chair: Richard Dawid |
| 12:45 - 14:00 | Lunch |
| 14:00 - 15:00 | Francesca Vidotto (Radboud): Compact Phase Space, Cosmological Constant, Discrete Time (Slides, 3.2 Mb) (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) Chair: Tim Koslowski |
| 15:00 - 16:15 | Sean Gryb (Radboud): In Favour of a Schrodinger Evolution for the Universe (Slides, 203 Kb) (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) Comment: Antonio Vassallo (Lausanne) (Slides, 108 Kb) Chair: Tim Koslowski |
| 16:15 - 16:45 | Coffee |
| 16:45 - 17:45 | Bianca Dittrich (Perimeter Institute): The Consistent Boundary Formulation: Renormalization and the Flow of Time (Slides, 10.4 Mb) (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) Chair: Philipp Hoehn |
| 19:00 | Dinner (Cafe Reitschule) |
Day 2 (4 July 2015)
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 09:00 - 10.00 | Philipp Hoehn (Perimeter Institute): Relational Dynamics and Chaos (Slides, 833 Kb) (Preprint @ arXiv.org) (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) Chair: Sean Gryb |
| 10:00 - 10:30 | Coffee |
| 10:30 - 11:45 | Brian Pitts (Cambridge): Changing Observables in Canonical General Relativity from Hamiltonian-Lagrangian Equivalence (Slides, 4.4 Mb) (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) Comment: Sam Fletcher (MCMP/LMU & Minnesota) Chair: Alex Blum |
| 11:45 - 12:45 | Oliver Pooley (Oxford): First-Class Constraints, Gauge, and the Wheeler–DeWitt Equation (Slides, 1.3 Mb) (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) Chair: Alex Blum |
| 12:45 - 14:00 | Lunch |
| 14:00 - 15:15 | Tim Koslowski (New Brunswick): The Gravitational Arrow of Time Comment: Dennis Lehmkuhl (Caltech) (Slides, 872 Kb) (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) Chair: Sam Fletcher |
| 15:15 - 16:30 | Carlo Rovelli (Aix-Marseille): The Conceptual Structure of Quantum Gravity. A Concrete Case of a Calculation: The Tunneling Time of a Hajicek-Kiefer Black-to-White Hole Transition (Slides, 5.4 Mb) (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) Comment: Erik Curiel (MCMP/LMU) Chair: Sam Fletcher |
| 16:30 - 17:00 | Coffee |
| 17:00 - 18:00 | Kurt Sundermeyer (FU Berlin & MPIWG): Notions of Time in Physics (Slides, 749 Kb) (Watch the lecture @ LMUcast) Chair: Karim Thébault |
| 19:00 | Dinner (Georgenhof) |
Acknowledgement:
The conference is organized by the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (LMU Munich) in collaboration with the Centre for Time (University of Sydney) and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.
We are very grateful to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, John Templeton Foundation and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science financial support.