CfP: The Nature of Quantum Objects
7 vues
Accéder directement au premier message non lu
ISHPSS
12 oct. 2021, 16:12:5812/10/2021
à isr-h...@googlegroups.com
From: David Schroeren <David.S...@UNIGE.CH>
Conference: The Nature
of Quantum Objects
University of Geneva, November 11-13, 2021
Call for Participation
Further details: https://philevents.org/event/show/89886
---------------
Speakers:
Tomasz Bigaj (Warsaw)
Elise Crull (CUNY)
David A. Glick (UC Davis)
Gabrielle Kerbel & Nina Emery (Mount
Holyoke)
Vera Matarese (Bern)
Matteo Morganti (Roma Tre)
Paul M. Näger (Münster)
Tom Pashby (U Chicago)
Bryan W. Roberts (LSE)
Vanessa Seifert (Bristol)
Alessandro Torza (UNAM)
Alastair Wilson (Birmingham)
---------------
Schedule:
(all times UTC+1:00)
Thursday, November 11, 2021
9-10:15am: Tom Pashby: TBA
10:30-11h45am: Vanessa Seifert: Are molecules quantum objects?
12-1:15pm: Bryan W. Roberts: Matter-Antimatter Exchange as a Spacetime Symmetry
1:15pm-2:45pm: Lunch break
2:45pm-4pm: Alessandro Torza: Derivative Metaphysical Indeterminacy and Quantum Physics
4:15pm-5:30pm: David A. Glick: Determinacy as a Desideratum
Friday, November 12, 2021
9:30-10:45am: Paul M. Näger: The Mereological Problem of Entanglement
11am-12:15pm: Elise Crull: Existence Monism from Bare Quantum Theory
12:15-1:45pm: Lunch break
1:45-3pm: Matteo Morganti: Quantum Objects and HaecceitismAlastair
(all times UTC+1:00)
Thursday, November 11, 2021
9-10:15am: Tom Pashby: TBA
10:30-11h45am: Vanessa Seifert: Are molecules quantum objects?
12-1:15pm: Bryan W. Roberts: Matter-Antimatter Exchange as a Spacetime Symmetry
1:15pm-2:45pm: Lunch break
2:45pm-4pm: Alessandro Torza: Derivative Metaphysical Indeterminacy and Quantum Physics
4:15pm-5:30pm: David A. Glick: Determinacy as a Desideratum
Friday, November 12, 2021
9:30-10:45am: Paul M. Näger: The Mereological Problem of Entanglement
11am-12:15pm: Elise Crull: Existence Monism from Bare Quantum Theory
12:15-1:45pm: Lunch break
1:45-3pm: Matteo Morganti: Quantum Objects and HaecceitismAlastair
3:15-4:30pm: Gabrielle
Kerbel and Nina Emery: Configuration Space
Realism and Fundamentality
Saturday, November 13, 2021
9-10:15am: Vera Matarese: Quantum Fictionalism
10:30-11h45am: Tomasz Bigaj: Are Quantum Objects Individuals? Why Should We Care?
12-1:15pm: Alastair Wilson: Fundamentality and Levels in Everettian Quantum Mechanics
Saturday, November 13, 2021
9-10:15am: Vera Matarese: Quantum Fictionalism
10:30-11h45am: Tomasz Bigaj: Are Quantum Objects Individuals? Why Should We Care?
12-1:15pm: Alastair Wilson: Fundamentality and Levels in Everettian Quantum Mechanics
---------------
Abstracts:
Tomasz Bigaj: Are Quantum Objects Individuals? Why Should We Care?
Abstract TBA.
Elise Crull: Existence Monism from bare quantum theory
Recent work in fundamental mereology tends to consider the debate between priority monism and priority pluralism “the only game in town”. Both views take metaphysical dependence relations (of some kind or other) to be primitive, and both views make important use of quantum physics. In this talk I shall try to establish a more controversial position: Existence Monism. I do this in two (largely independent) steps: the first is to argue that quantum physics, construed in an interpretation-neutral way, raises serious problems for metaphysical dependence relations as primitive. This undercuts the ``priority’’ qualifier. The second step is to support monism over pluralism by defending it from the significant objections raised in Calosi (2014) and Tallant & Baron (2018). This defense will again call upon central features of interpretation-neutral quantum theory.
David Glick: Determinacy as a Desideratum
Some have alleged that quantum theory involves metaphysical indeterminacy. However, this metaphysical claim is underdetermined—there are accounts of quantum theory that posit metaphysical indeterminacy and others that do not. Fortunately, theoretical virtues can help us to resolve this case of underdetermination. Versions of quantum theory that posit metaphysical indeterminacy will be less simple or less informative than their indeterminacy-free counterparts. Moreover, positing metaphysical indeterminacy does not provide a clear gain in explanatory power, contrary to the suggestion of Calosi and Wilson (2021). Thus, determinacy is a desideratum in an interpretation of quantum theory.
Gabrielle Kerbel and Nina Emery: Configuration Space Realism and Fundamentality
Configuration space realism is an account of quantum ontology according to which the wavefunction represents a field in a high-dimensional space. We present a version of configuration space realism that has largely been overlooked in the literature to date and argue that this version should be taken just as seriously as the standard version. Along the way we show how choosing between these different versions of configuration space realism will turn on philosophically nuanced questions about the nature of grounding, the importance of separability and locality, and the role of explanation in metaphysics and physics.
Vera Matarese: Quantum Fictionalism
Are there quantum objects? While representationalists respond in the affirmative, claiming that quantum states directly represent quantum beables, pragmatists and operationalists respond in the negative, the former interpreting quantum states only prescriptively, the latter as just calculation tools. In this talk, I propose a fictionalist view to account for the nature of quantum objects. The core idea is that quantum objects do not physically exist, and yet they have an explanatory power that underwrites the kind of explanations normally given by representationalists.
Matteo Morganti: Quantum Objects and Haecceitism
In the debate about the metaphysical status of the entities described by non-relativistic quantum mechanics, two arguments are traditionally used in favour of the ‘Received View’ that quantum objects are non-individuals: one having to do with the Identity of the Indiscernibles, the other with quantum statistics and haecceitism. While the former has been the object of intense discussion as of late, the latter has received comparatively little attention. It basically amounts to the following: if quantum objects were individuals, then many-particle systems of ‘indistinguishable particles’ would give rise to haecceitistic differences – i.e., exactly similar physical states that only differ with respect to which particle is which; quantum statistics doesn’t exhibit such haecceitistic differences; hence, quantum objects are not individuals. This argument certainly looks compelling. However, upon scrutiny, it turns out to be less straightforward than it seems. Here, I will reconstruct the argument in detail, and look at ways to steer clear of its conclusion.
Paul Näger: The mereological problem of entanglement
It is well-known that the entangled quantum state of a composite object cannot be reduced to the states of its parts. This quantum holism provides a peculiar challenge to formulate an appropriate mereological model: When a system is in an entangled state, which objects are there on the micro and macro level, and which of the objects carries which properties? This paper chooses a modeling approach to answer these questions: It proceeds from a systematic overview of consistent mereological models for entangled systems and discusses which of them is compatible with the quantum mechanical evidence (where quantum states are understood realistically). It reveals that entangled quantum systems neither describe undivided wholes nor objects that stand in irreducible relations. The appropriate model assumes that the entangled property is an irreducible non-relational plural property carried collectively by the micro objects, while there is no macro object. In this sense, quantum holism is an instance of property holism, not of object holism.
Tom Pashby: TBA
Bryan Roberts: Matter-Antimatter Exchange as a Spacetime Symmetry
I argue that the correct local spacetime symmetry group is not the Poincaré group, but its universal covering group SL(2,C). Viewing the local existence of a quantum object in spacetime as a representation of a symmetry group, this provides an elegant explanation of the relationship between matter, antimatter, and spacetime: that matter-antimatter exchange is an automorphism of the local spacetime symmetries.
Vanessa Seifert: Are molecules quantum objects?
Tomasz Bigaj: Are Quantum Objects Individuals? Why Should We Care?
Abstract TBA.
Elise Crull: Existence Monism from bare quantum theory
Recent work in fundamental mereology tends to consider the debate between priority monism and priority pluralism “the only game in town”. Both views take metaphysical dependence relations (of some kind or other) to be primitive, and both views make important use of quantum physics. In this talk I shall try to establish a more controversial position: Existence Monism. I do this in two (largely independent) steps: the first is to argue that quantum physics, construed in an interpretation-neutral way, raises serious problems for metaphysical dependence relations as primitive. This undercuts the ``priority’’ qualifier. The second step is to support monism over pluralism by defending it from the significant objections raised in Calosi (2014) and Tallant & Baron (2018). This defense will again call upon central features of interpretation-neutral quantum theory.
David Glick: Determinacy as a Desideratum
Some have alleged that quantum theory involves metaphysical indeterminacy. However, this metaphysical claim is underdetermined—there are accounts of quantum theory that posit metaphysical indeterminacy and others that do not. Fortunately, theoretical virtues can help us to resolve this case of underdetermination. Versions of quantum theory that posit metaphysical indeterminacy will be less simple or less informative than their indeterminacy-free counterparts. Moreover, positing metaphysical indeterminacy does not provide a clear gain in explanatory power, contrary to the suggestion of Calosi and Wilson (2021). Thus, determinacy is a desideratum in an interpretation of quantum theory.
Gabrielle Kerbel and Nina Emery: Configuration Space Realism and Fundamentality
Configuration space realism is an account of quantum ontology according to which the wavefunction represents a field in a high-dimensional space. We present a version of configuration space realism that has largely been overlooked in the literature to date and argue that this version should be taken just as seriously as the standard version. Along the way we show how choosing between these different versions of configuration space realism will turn on philosophically nuanced questions about the nature of grounding, the importance of separability and locality, and the role of explanation in metaphysics and physics.
Vera Matarese: Quantum Fictionalism
Are there quantum objects? While representationalists respond in the affirmative, claiming that quantum states directly represent quantum beables, pragmatists and operationalists respond in the negative, the former interpreting quantum states only prescriptively, the latter as just calculation tools. In this talk, I propose a fictionalist view to account for the nature of quantum objects. The core idea is that quantum objects do not physically exist, and yet they have an explanatory power that underwrites the kind of explanations normally given by representationalists.
Matteo Morganti: Quantum Objects and Haecceitism
In the debate about the metaphysical status of the entities described by non-relativistic quantum mechanics, two arguments are traditionally used in favour of the ‘Received View’ that quantum objects are non-individuals: one having to do with the Identity of the Indiscernibles, the other with quantum statistics and haecceitism. While the former has been the object of intense discussion as of late, the latter has received comparatively little attention. It basically amounts to the following: if quantum objects were individuals, then many-particle systems of ‘indistinguishable particles’ would give rise to haecceitistic differences – i.e., exactly similar physical states that only differ with respect to which particle is which; quantum statistics doesn’t exhibit such haecceitistic differences; hence, quantum objects are not individuals. This argument certainly looks compelling. However, upon scrutiny, it turns out to be less straightforward than it seems. Here, I will reconstruct the argument in detail, and look at ways to steer clear of its conclusion.
Paul Näger: The mereological problem of entanglement
It is well-known that the entangled quantum state of a composite object cannot be reduced to the states of its parts. This quantum holism provides a peculiar challenge to formulate an appropriate mereological model: When a system is in an entangled state, which objects are there on the micro and macro level, and which of the objects carries which properties? This paper chooses a modeling approach to answer these questions: It proceeds from a systematic overview of consistent mereological models for entangled systems and discusses which of them is compatible with the quantum mechanical evidence (where quantum states are understood realistically). It reveals that entangled quantum systems neither describe undivided wholes nor objects that stand in irreducible relations. The appropriate model assumes that the entangled property is an irreducible non-relational plural property carried collectively by the micro objects, while there is no macro object. In this sense, quantum holism is an instance of property holism, not of object holism.
Tom Pashby: TBA
Bryan Roberts: Matter-Antimatter Exchange as a Spacetime Symmetry
I argue that the correct local spacetime symmetry group is not the Poincaré group, but its universal covering group SL(2,C). Viewing the local existence of a quantum object in spacetime as a representation of a symmetry group, this provides an elegant explanation of the relationship between matter, antimatter, and spacetime: that matter-antimatter exchange is an automorphism of the local spacetime symmetries.
Vanessa Seifert: Are molecules quantum objects?
Abstract
TBA.
Alessandro Torza: Derivative metaphysical indeterminacy and quantum physics
It will be argued that quantum indeterminacy can be construed as a merely derivative phenomenon. The possibility of merely derivative quantum indeterminacy undermines both a recent argument against quantum indeterminacy due to David Glick, and an argument against the possibility of merely derivative indeterminacy due to Elizabeth Barnes.
Alastair Wilson: Fundamentality and Levels in Everettian Quantum Mechanics
Distinctions in fundamentality between different levels of description are central to the viability of contemporary decoherence-based Everettian quantum mechanics (EQM). This approach to quantum theory characteristically combines a precise fundamental reality (one universal wavefunction) with an imprecise emergent reality (multiple decoherent worlds). I explore how the Everettian appeal to fundamentality and emergence fits within extant metaphysical frameworks, identify grounding and concept fundamentality as promising analytical tools, and use them to characterize a system of explanatory levels (with associated laws of nature) for EQM. This Everettian level structure encompasses and extends the ‘classical’ levels structure comprising levels of physics, chemistry, biology, etc., which are recaptured through a correspondence with levels of explanation for the emergent quasi-classical worlds in EQM. There is however a new kind of fundamental level invoked by EQM, a level below any previously recognised classical level; I argue that this level is novel since it is best understood as physically (indeed metaphysically) non-contingent. This result blocks supervenience-based accounts of levels from applying to EQM. Another contrast with classical level structures arises from the irreducibly self-locating element to probabilities in EQM; I argue that the role of self-location gives rise to an additional novel explanatory level within the overall Everettian levels picture.
Alessandro Torza: Derivative metaphysical indeterminacy and quantum physics
It will be argued that quantum indeterminacy can be construed as a merely derivative phenomenon. The possibility of merely derivative quantum indeterminacy undermines both a recent argument against quantum indeterminacy due to David Glick, and an argument against the possibility of merely derivative indeterminacy due to Elizabeth Barnes.
Alastair Wilson: Fundamentality and Levels in Everettian Quantum Mechanics
Distinctions in fundamentality between different levels of description are central to the viability of contemporary decoherence-based Everettian quantum mechanics (EQM). This approach to quantum theory characteristically combines a precise fundamental reality (one universal wavefunction) with an imprecise emergent reality (multiple decoherent worlds). I explore how the Everettian appeal to fundamentality and emergence fits within extant metaphysical frameworks, identify grounding and concept fundamentality as promising analytical tools, and use them to characterize a system of explanatory levels (with associated laws of nature) for EQM. This Everettian level structure encompasses and extends the ‘classical’ levels structure comprising levels of physics, chemistry, biology, etc., which are recaptured through a correspondence with levels of explanation for the emergent quasi-classical worlds in EQM. There is however a new kind of fundamental level invoked by EQM, a level below any previously recognised classical level; I argue that this level is novel since it is best understood as physically (indeed metaphysically) non-contingent. This result blocks supervenience-based accounts of levels from applying to EQM. Another contrast with classical level structures arises from the irreducibly self-locating element to probabilities in EQM; I argue that the role of self-location gives rise to an additional novel explanatory level within the overall Everettian levels picture.
------------
David Schroeren
Répondre à tous
Répondre à l'auteur
Transférer
0 nouveau message