June events in Philosophy of Physics and more

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Guy Hetzroni

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Jun 6, 2022, 1:10:43 PM6/6/22
to Philosophy of Physics Discussion Club
Dear friends, 

No discussion club this month, but I enclose the details for three events of interest: 

1. Below is an invitation to the next meeting of the research seminar of the Astrophysics Research Center of the Open University (ARCO). The talk, Rethinking the Connection Between Spacetime Symmetries and Gravity, is on June 13th, 15:00. If you wish to attend remotely please email me for the zoom link. (The seminar is in a hybrid format, no recording.)

2. The 21st Annual Conference of the Israeli Society for the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science will take place in Tel-Aviv University on June 19th, including various sessions of interest. See the society webpage for the full program and more details. 

3. The 25th Conference of The (New) Israeli Philosophy Association (IPA) will take place on June 30th at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The full program and more details can be found here.

Hope to see you there, 
Guy. 

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Prasanta Bera 
Date: Mon, Jun 6, 2022 at 4:43 PM
Subject: ARCO Seminar on 13th June 2022 Monday 3 pm

Dear All,

Our next ARCO seminar will take place on 13th June 2022 Monday at 3 pm. We will have Dr. Guy Hetzroni from ARCO, The Open University of Israel as our seminar speaker.

Title: Rethinking the Connection Between Spacetime Symmetries and Gravity

Abstract: The idea that `symmetry dictates interaction' is often presented as a fundamental paradigm in theoretical physics and a source of optimism with respect to the prospects for achieving unification. This approach aims to understand gravity based on spacetime symmetries, by analogy to the way electromagnetic and nuclear interactions are associated with gauge symmetries. However, there is no single clear and straightforward way of understanding the relation between spacetime symmetries and gravity, and the attempts to do so have yielded a wide range of theories that divide with respect to the symmetry group, spacetime geometry, and various other formal and conceptual issues.
In this talk I will review different possibilities of understanding the relation of spacetime symmetries and gravity, first in general relativity and then in gauge theories of gravity, advocating an approach that avoids geometrical presuppositions. Comparing the basic principles of GR to those of gauge theories, I suggest understanding general covariance and gauge invariance as a manifestation of one heuristic principle, the methodological equivalence principle. Comparing general covariance with local symmetry groups, it is suggested that general relativity is best understood in terms of the former, and that the coupling prescription of general relativity is unique in introducing the minimal structure that at the same time achieves general covariance and also accounts for the preferred role of local inertial frames in non-gravitational dynamics. The talk is based on joint work with James Read (University of Oxford).

--
Dr. Guy Hetzroni

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