International Workshop
Branching
space-times
Kraków, Poland, October 24-25, 2005
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Honorary Chair: |
Nuel Belnap (Department of
Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh) |
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Organizers: |
Thomas Müller (Department of
Philosophy, University of Bonn) |
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Tomasz Placek (Department of
Philosophy, Jagiellonian
University, Kraków) |
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Venue: Department
of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Grodzka 52. Time:
Monday, October 24, and Tuesday, October 25, 2005. Participants should plan
to arrive on Sunday, October 23 and leave on Wednesday, October 26 (see timetable). Supported
by the European Science Foundation (ESF), Scientific
network Philosophical and foundational problems of
modern physics |
Aims
of the workshop
Branching
space-times (BST) is a framework uniting indeterminism with relativistic
space-time. The key ideas, developed as an extension of the well established framework
of branching times, were presented in the paper Branching space-time by
Nuel Belnap (Synthese 92 (1992) pp. 385-434). During the past decade,
branching space-times have been employed in a number of investigations into
the foundations of physics, mostly in the areas of space-time theories and
quantum mechanics, and in the analysis of causation and agency. (Most of the
relevant papers can be found at the Pittsburgh
Philosophy of Science Preprint Archive.) The aim
of this workshop is to bring together an international group of researchers
to discuss issues in the theory of branching space-times, both foundational and application-oriented. The
talks are intended to span as wide a range of topics as possible. |
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Topics
of interest: |
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A)
Logical and structural aspects |
-
formal structure of models of BST |
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of branching
space-times |
-
relation of BST to other indeterministic structures |
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- formal
languages based on the framework of BST |
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B)
Applications in physics |
- BST
and fundamental issues in quantum mechanics |
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- BST
and physical space-time theories |
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C)
Other applications |
- BST
and causation |
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- BST
vs. branching time as a basis for analyzing agency |
Program:
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Timetable and abstracts
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List of invited speakers:
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Nuel
Belnap (Pittsburgh) |
Propensities are causal probabilities in BST |
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Liu
Hu (New South Wales) |
An Ockhamist Temporal Logic for Branching space-times |
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Tomasz
Kowalski (Canberra) |
Amalgamation properties of orthomodular lattices |
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Storrs
McCall (McGill) |
The 'objective values' interpretation of probability |
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Thomas Müller (Bonn) |
BST probabilities in quantum mechanics and in quantum information |
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Mika Oksanen (Helsinki) |
Propensities in Branching Space-times Theory and in
Probabilistic Causal Calculus |
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Tomasz Placek (Kraków) |
(Non)conspiracy in branching space-times |
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Niko Strobach (Rostock) |
Fooling around with tenses |
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Lįszló Szabó (Budapest) |
Objective probability-looking things with and without objective indeterminism |
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List of contributing young researchers:
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Christian de Ronde (Brussels) |
Relationalism vs. Substantivalism in Quantum Theory |
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Cord Friebe (Trento) |
Invariant, hyperplane-dependent branching |
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Gįbor Hofer-Szabó (Budapest) |
Different- versus common-common-cause-type derivations of
the Bell inequalities |
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Koen Lefever (Brussels) |
A comparison of ordinal axiomatic systems for the special
theory of relativity |
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Pierre Uzan (Paris) |
Informational Branching Universe |
Registration
Registration
is free, but the number of participants is limited. You can register via
e-mail by writing to one of the organizers, Thomas Müller (Thomas.Mueller@uni-bonn.de) or
Tomasz Placek (uzplacek@cyf-kr.edu.pl). Young
researchers are encouraged to contribute. Five papers by young researchers have been accepted. |
Travel
and Accomodation
Invited speakers will be
accomodated at the University Guest House
(Dom Gościnny UJ; see the location on the map below). Other
participants are advised to check the official site of Kraków tourist information for
accomodation information. |
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Reaching
Kraków: going
by train: There are regular train connections to Kraków main
train station (Kraków Głowny) from many European countries. Check, e.g., www.bahn.de for times. From
the railway station, a taxi to the University Hotel should be less than 25
Złoty (6 EUR). going
by airplane: Kraków
International Airport has regular direct connections to a number of
European cities; information can be found on their website. From some
destinations it will be necessary to stop in Warszawa. From the airport, a
taxi to the University Hotel should be less than 60 Złoty (15 EUR). |
URL: http://confer.uj.edu.pl/branching
Contact:
Thomas Müller (Thomas.Mueller@uni-bonn.de),
Tomasz Placek (uzplacek@cyf-kr.edu.pl)
Date last
changed: October 1, 2005