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The Philosophy of Physics Group at the International Center for Formal Ontology (Warsaw University of Technology) is happy to announce the program of the Warsaw Spacetime Colloquium for the upcoming term:

26 February (17:00-19:00 CET) – Sean Carroll (Caltech) – “From Quantum Mechanics to Spacetime”

12 March (17:00-19:00 CET) – Daniele Oriti (LMU Munich) – TBA

26 March (17:00-19:00 CET) – Sabine Hossenfelder (Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies) – “Superdeterminism”

09 April (17:00-19:00 CEST) – Erik Curiel (LMU Munich, Harvard University) – “The Dynamics of Classical Physics Determines the Structure of Newtonian Spacetime; That of Quantum Physics Does Not”

23 April (17:00-19:00 CEST) – Marco Giovanelli (University of Turin) – “Special Relativity as a Theory of Principles. On Einstein’s Distinction between Constructive and Principle Theories”

07 May (17:00-19:00 CEST) – Tim Maudlin (New York University) – “S = k ln(B(W)): Boltzmann entropy, the Second Law, and the Architecture of Hell”

21 May (17:00-19:00 CEST) – Baptiste Le Bihan (University of Geneva) – “Spacetime, Quantum Gravity and Mereology”

28 May (17:00-19:00 CEST) – JB Manchak (University of California, Irvine) – “On the (In?)Stability of Spacetime Inextendibility”

All talks will take place online on Zoom. If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to Antonio Vassallo (antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl).

The paper ” Does General Relativity Highlight Necessary Connections in Nature? ” has just been published in Synthese. Check out the publications section for the details.

On Friday, 2 October, Carlo Rovelli (Aix-Marseille University) will give a talk entitled “Why can we decide what we shall do tomorrow, but we cannot decide what we did yesterday? Time reversibility and the physics of an agent” (abstract below).

The meeting will take place online on Zoom (16:00-18:00 CET). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl.

The Colloquium is organized by the Philosophy of Physics Group at the International Center for Formal Ontology (Warsaw University of Technology). The program for the winter semester can be found here.

Abstract:
Much of the confusion in the philosophy of spacetime stems from the failure to recognize that ‘space’ and ‘time’ (and a fortiori ‘spacetime’) are layered concepts used to denote a variety of different notions.  I disentangle the different uses of these words, and discuss what we understand about the different layers in contemporary physics.  In the second part of the talk I discuss in particular the arrow of time: the reason why the past is fixed and the future open. I show that we remember the past (not the future) and we can affect the future (not the past) because of the entropy gradient.  Hence the fact that the past is fixed and the future is open is a macroscopic, statistical, phenomenon.

The Philosophy of Physics Group at the International Center for Formal Ontology (Warsaw University of Technology) is happy to announce the Warsaw Spacetime Colloquium 2020-2021.

The Colloquium focuses on the foundations of spacetime physics broadly construed, and will be held fortnightly on Zoom (16:00-18:00 CET).

The program for the winter semester is the following:

2 October – Carlo Rovelli (Aix-Marseille University) – “Why can we decide what we shall do tomorrow, but we cannot decide what we did yesterday? Time reversibility and the physics of an agent”

16 October – J. Brian Pitts (University of Lincoln, University of Cambridge, University of South Carolina) – “Change in observables in Hamiltonian general relativity”

30 October – James Read (University of Oxford) – “Shifts and reference”

13 November – Karen Crowther (University of Oslo) and Sebastian De Haro (University of Amsterdam) – “The role of singularities in the search for quantum gravity”

27 November – Claus Kiefer (University of Cologne) – “Time in quantum gravity”

11 December – Radin Dardashti (University of Wuppertal) – “The rise and fall of scientific problems”

8 January – Karim Thébault (University of Bristol) – “On the structure of time in physical theory”

22 January – Vera Matarese (University of Bern) – “Spacetime the many substances”

People interested in attending the Colloquium can register by sending a message to Antonio Vassallo (antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl).

Pedro Naranjo has joined the project as a research assistant. Pedro is a theoretical physicist interested in the foundations of classical and quantum gravity. He is an expert in shape dynamics and relational physics in general. Welcome Pedro!

The paper “How Humean is Bohumianism?” (written in collaboration with Tomasz Bigaj) has been just published in Foundations of Physics. Check out the publications section for the details.