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PERIMETER INSTITUTE RECORDED SEMINAR ARCHIVE

Displaying all lectures given by: Hans Westman


Scale invariance, Weyl gravity, and Einstein's three objections
Speaker(s): Hans Westman
Abstract: Basic epistemological considerations suggest that the laws of nature should be scale invariant and no fundamental length scale should exist in nature. Indeed, the standard model action contains only two terms that break scale invariance: the Einstein-Hilbert term and the Higgs mass term. We give a s... read more
Date: 01/12/2010 - 10:50 am

Not altogether desperate: An exposition of Newton's Scholium Problem and the theoretical definition of duration
Speaker(s): Hans Westman
Abstract: In the Scholium in Newton's Principia which contains the discussions about absolute space, time, and the bucket experiment, Newton also posed a problem that Julian Barbour has denoted the "Scholium problem". Newton writes there "But how are we to obtain the true motions fr... read more
Date: 09/03/2010 - 4:00 pm

Panel Discussion
Speaker(s): Hans Westman
Abstract: TBA
Date: 02/10/2009 - 2:00 pm

A First-Principles Implementation of Scale Invariance Using Best Matching
Speaker(s): Hans Westman
Abstract: We present a first-principles implementation of {em spatial} scale invariance as a local gauge symmetry in geometry dynamics using the method of best matching. In addition to the 3-metric, the proposed scale invariant theory also contains a 3-vector potential A_k as a dynamical variable. Although so... read more
Date: 15/09/2009 - 4:00 pm

deBroglie-Bohm and the Timeless Mechanics of Jacobi
Speaker(s): Hans Westman
Abstract: A standard canonical quantization of general relativity yields a time-independent Schroedinger equation whose solutions are static wavefunctions on configuration space. Naively this is in contradiction with the real world where things do change. Broadly speaking, the problem how to reconcile a theor... read more
Date: 10/02/2009 - 4:00 pm

A Candidate of a Psi-Epistemic Theory
Speaker(s): Hans Westman
Abstract: In deBroglie-Bohm theory the quantum state plays the role of a guiding agent. In this seminar we will explore whether this is a universal feature shared by all hidden variable theories, or merely a peculiarity of the deBroglie-Bohm theory. We present the bare bones of a theory in which the quantum s... read more
Date: 29/09/2008 - 2:30 pm

A candidate of a psi-epistemic theory
Speaker(s): Hans Westman
Abstract: In deBroglie-Bohm theory the quantum state plays the role of a guiding agent. In this seminar we will explore if this is a universal feature shared by all hidden variable theories or merely a peculiar feature of deBroglie-Bohm theory. We present the bare bones of a model in which the quantum state r... read more
Date: 22/07/2008 - 4:00 am

Measurement ordering contextuality and the search for psi-epistemic theories
Speaker(s): Hans Westman
Abstract: We prove that all non-conspiratorial/retro-causal hidden variable theories has to be measurement ordering contextual, i.e. there exists *commuting* operator pair (A,B) and a hidden state \\lambda such that the outcome of A depends on whether we measure B before or after. Interestingly this rules ... read more
Date: 26/02/2008 - 4:00 pm

Keynote Presentation - Cats, collapes and the nature of reality: What does quantum theory really mean?
Speaker(s): Hans Westman
Abstract:
Date: 14/07/2006 - 11:00 am
Collection: Einstein Plus 2006

Keynote Presentation on A Picture of Quantum Theory
Speaker(s): Hans Westman
Abstract:
Date: 04/07/2006 - 1:00 pm

Keynote Presentation - Picture of Quantum Theory
Speaker(s): Hans Westman
Abstract:
Date: 04/07/2006 - 1:00 pm

Pilot-wave theory for the standard model
Abstract:
Date: 28/09/2005 - 4:00 pm
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