14 juin : Lee Smolin "Against Symmetry"

[Alexei Grinbaum]

Mercredi 14 juin à 14h30
 
Lee Smolin (Perimeter Institute, Canada)

"Against Symmetry"

>From the Leibniz-Newton debates to the present debates between string
theorists and loop quantum gravity theorists two notions of fundamental
physics have stood opposed. On the one hand is the Newtonian vision, which
is based on a belief in a fixed absolute space and time and which holds
symmetry to be fundamental and its breaking to be contingent. Leibniz's
conception of space and time is instead of an ever evolving network of
relationships in which complexity is fundamental and symmetry is unnatural
and accidental. This distinction characterizes the divide between background
dependent theories like string theory and relational, background independent
theories such as loop quantum gravity.

In this talk I analyze the present status of the two traditions and the
plausibility of their contemporary incarnations. I show that the crisis of
predictability facing string theory is a direct consequence of a conception
of unification that is opposed to the principles that underlie the
successful modern unifications such as general relativity and gauge
theories. I close by describing a new kind of unification which emerges from
background independent theories. 
 
 
Amphithéâtre A, entrée par le 25 rue de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, Paris
5ème
 
Contact : Alexei Grinbaum (alexei.grinbaum at polytechnique.edu)

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