PIRSA:C06009 - Quantum Reality, Relativistic Causality, and Closing the Epistemic Circle
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Perimeter Institute will host an international conference from July 18-21, 2006, in honour of Abner Shimony, one of the most eminent physicist-philosophers of our time. Professor Shimony is renowned for his contribution to the famous Bell-CHSH inequality and for many other contributions in the foundations of physics and philosophy.
Talks and discussions will cover a wide range of subjects within physics and philosophy, including theoretical and experimental aspects of quantum entanglement and non-locality, relativistic causality, quantum measurement problem, probability theory, temporal transience, the mind-body problem, and scientific realism.
Organizer(s): Joy Christian Wayne Myrvold
Collection URL: http://pirsa.org/C06009
Welcome
Speaker(s):
Howard Burton - Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics,
Lucien Hardy - Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Abstract:
Date: 18/07/2006 - 9:00 am
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Geometry of Flat Spacetime
Abstract: I will show Abner how to construct Minkowski's space-time diagrams directly from Einstein's two postulates and some very elementary plane geometry. This geometric route into special relativity was developed while teaching the subject to nonscientists, but some of its features may be unfamiliar to p...
read moreDate: 18/07/2006 - 9:15 am
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On the Separability of Physical Systems
Abstract: In the context of Bell-type experiments, two related notions of "separability" are offered, one of which is logically stronger than the other. It is shown that the weaker of these is logically equivalent to the statistical independence condition widely taken to have been refuted by the results of e...
read moreDate: 18/07/2006 - 10:15 am
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Entanglement and the Foundations of Statistical Mechanics
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Date: 18/07/2006 - 11:45 am
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Mathematics and the Empirical Sciences: Charles Sanders Peirce on the Status and Application of Mathematics
Abstract: Abner Shimony mentions that his undergraduate years at Yale in the forties provided an introduction to three profound philosophers that influenced his thought Alfred North Whitehead, Charles Sanders Peirce and Kurt Gödel. For all three, mathematics played a central role in the unfolding of their...
read moreDate: 18/07/2006 - 2:45 pm
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Quantum Physics and Whitehead's Philosophy a tribute to Abner Shimony
Abstract: After having been a Whiteheadian for decades, Abner, under the influence of Lovejoys book, "The Revolt against Dualism, no longer accepts Whiteheads philosophy. In this paper I try to challenge this change of heart, as well as suggest a modification of Whiteheads philosophy that allows for...
read moreDate: 18/07/2006 - 3:45 pm
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The transient nows
Abstract: It is often suggested that the special theory of relativity is incompatible with any notion of the passage of time. I shall try to show, following in the footsteps of Abner Shimony, that there is transience to be found in Minkowski spacetime, but this transience is local rather than global.
Date: 18/07/2006 - 5:15 pm
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Interpretations of Probability in Quantum Mechanics
Abstract: Taking for granted that the mathematical apparatus for describing probabilities in quantum mechanics is well-understood via work of von Neumann, Lüders, Mackey, and Gleason, we present an overview of different interpretations of probability in quantum mechanics bearing on physics and experiment...
read moreDate: 19/07/2006 - 9:15 am
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Indistinguishability or stochastic dependence? Authors - D. Costantini and U. Garibaldi
Abstract: Once again the problem of indistinguishability has been recently tackled. The question is why indistinguishability, in quantum mechanics but not in classical one, forces a changes in statistics. Or, what is able to explain the difference between classical and quantum statistics? The answer given reg...
read moreDate: 19/07/2006 - 10:15 am
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Causality in quantum theory and beyond: towards a theory of quantum gravity
Speaker(s):
Lucien Hardy - Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Abstract: The way we combine operators in quantum theory depends on the causal relationship involved. For spacelike separated spacetime regions we use the tensor product. For immediately sequential regions of spacetime we use the direct product. In the latter case we lose information that is we cannot g...
read moreDate: 19/07/2006 - 11:45 am
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QIMDS:probing quantum mechanics towards the macroscopic world
Abstract: If one is worried by the quantum measurement problem,a natural question to ask is: Does the quantum-mechanical description of the world retain its validity when its application leads to superpositions of states which by some reasonable criterion are _macroscopically distinct_? Or rather, does any s...
read moreDate: 19/07/2006 - 2:45 pm
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How Stands Collapse
Abstract: After giving an introduction to the Continuous Spontaneous Localization
(CSL) theory of dynamical wave function collapse, I shall discuss 10 problems of dynamical collapse models, 5 of which were resolved by CSL's advent, and 5 of which have been subsequently attacked with varying success.
Date: 19/07/2006 - 3:45 pm
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Is the emergence of macroscopic behavior due to a quantum mechanical indeterminacy of the structure of the Einsteinian Space-Time?
Abstract: According to a widely accepted view, the emergence of macroscopic behavior is related to the loss of quantum mechanical coherence. Opinions on the possible cause of this loss diverge. In the present talk it will be shown how a small, assessable amount of indeterminacy in the structure of space-time ...
read moreDate: 19/07/2006 - 5:15 pm
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Bistro Banter
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Date: 19/07/2006 - 7:30 pm
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From Bell's inequalities to CHSH : from a Gedanken Experiment to the possibility of real experiments
Speaker(s):
Alain Aspect - Institut d'Optique Graduate School
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Date: 20/07/2006 - 9:15 am
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The Physics of 2 != 1+1
Abstract: Feynman was probably correct to say that the only mystery of quantum mechanics is the principle of superposition. Although we may never know which slit a photon has been passing in a Youngs double-slit experiment, we do have a corresponding classical concept in classical electromagnetic theory: t...
read moreDate: 20/07/2006 - 10:15 am
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Rotational analysis of a vibrational transition in the 199Hg2 molecule: a first step in an experimental realization of a spin-1/2 particle version of the EPR experiment Authors: Edward S. Fry and Xinmei Qu
Abstract: An experimental realization of our spin-1/2 particle version of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) experiment will be briefly reviewed. In the proposed experiment, two 199Hg atoms in the ground 1S0 electronic state, each with nuclear spin I=1/2, are generated in an entangled state with total nuclear...
read moreDate: 20/07/2006 - 11:45 am
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Inefficient Detectors Do Not Bar Bell Theorems Without Inequalities
Abstract: Entanglement swapping is such a powerful technique for dealing with EPR problems, that it can handle inefficient counters and Bell Theorems without inequalities, even for two particles. We will examine some of the results and pitfalls.
Date: 20/07/2006 - 2:45 pm
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Quantum in Gravity?
Abstract: I will report my efforts to describe elementary Quantum behaviours, specifically single-particle interference and two-particle entanglement, in an accelerating frame.
Date: 20/07/2006 - 3:45 pm
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Local and Nonlocal Quantum Tests
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Date: 20/07/2006 - 5:15 pm
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From Bell Inequalities to Secure Key Distribution
Abstract: Abner Shimony is well-known for, among other contributions, his seminal work on Bell inequalities, turning a philosophical question into an experimental one. In my presentation I like to remind us how this experimental field is nowadays feeding into applied science. This is happening both in terms o...
read moreDate: 21/07/2006 - 9:15 am
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A proposed Test of the Local Casuality of Spacetime
Speaker(s):
Adrian Kent - University of Cambridge (DAMTP)
Abstract: A theory governing the metric and matter fields in spacetime is {it
locally causal} if the probability distribution for the fields in any region is determined solely by physical data in its past, i.e. it is independent of events at space-like separated points. This is the case according to general...
read moreDate: 21/07/2006 - 10:15 am
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Peirce, James, and the Quantum Bayesians
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Date: 21/07/2006 - 11:45 am
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Newtons Methodology
Abstract: Newtons methodology is significantly richer than the hypothetico-deductive model. It is informed by a richer ideal of empirical success that requires not just accurate prediction but also accurate measurement of parameters by the predicted phenomena. It accepts theory mediated measurements and t...
read moreDate: 21/07/2006 - 2:45 pm
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No Information Without Disturbance Myths and Facts about Quantum Measurements
Abstract: In this talk I will discuss the question of how to characterize, in an operationally meaningful way, the inevitable disturbance of a quantum system in a measurement. I will review some well-known limitations of quantum measurements (facts), and give precise formulations of trade-off relations be...
read moreDate: 21/07/2006 - 3:47 pm
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Unfinished Work: A Bequest
Abstract: Here are some topics in physics and philosophy on which my work is incomplete. I invite my friends in this assembly, and their colleagues and students, to continue the work and inform me about their progress.
1. There is a well known theorem of Wigner that a necessary condition for a quantity M...
read moreDate: 21/07/2006 - 5:15 pm
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