[PhilPhys] Next Week - Lunch Time Talk Shan Gao 3/19 and Annual Lecture Series - Nicole Yunger Halpern 3/22

[Center for Phil Sci]

The Center for Philosophy of Science invites you to join us for our upcoming lectures.  Attend in person at the University of Pittsburgh or visit our live stream on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.


Lunch Time Talk – Shan Gao

Introduction video - https://youtu.be/YhXv9Z8DqQQ

Tuesday, March 19 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
1117 Cathedral of Learning (11th Floor)

If you can't join us in person then follow along via Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/96924419429


Title: What Does Quantum Mechanics Tell Us about Reality?


Abstract:  Quantum mechanics is admittedly the most difficult subject to understand. Physicists and philosophers, let alone students and laymen, are still puzzled by it today. As Richard Feynman once famously claimed, nobody understood quantum mechanics. The crux of the matter lies in the meaning of the mysterious wave function in the theory. An electron is represented by a wave function. But it remains unclear what physical state the mathematical wave function represents. Exactly what is an electron? Is it a localized particle or a field spreading throughout space? If the electron is still a particle, then how does it move? e.g. how does a single electron pass through two slits?



In this talk, I will propose a new answer to these questions. First, I will introduce my interpretation of the wave function in terms of random discontinuous motion of particles (RDMP). According to this interpretation, a quantum system is composed of particles which undergo random discontinuous motion in three-dimensional space, and the wave function represents the propensities of these particles which determine their random discontinuous motion. Next, I will argue that the RDMP interpretation of the wave function may help solve the notorious measurement problem. The resulting picture of reality is time division multiverse, in which worlds exist in a time-division multiplexing way.

Annual Lecture Series – Nicole Yunger Halpern
Friday, March 22 @ 3:30 pm - 6:00 pm EST
Join us in person in room 1008 on the 10th floor of the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh
This talk will be streamed through Zoom, found here: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/99729209600


Title: Field notes on the second law of thermodynamics from a quantum physicist


Abstract: Thermodynamics reigns as queen of the physical theories, governing everything from biophysics to cosmology. The second law of thermodynamics heads her court, stipulating that time appears to flow in only one direction and limiting engines’ efficiencies. However, idealizations curtail the original second law’s applicability: small systems violate simple, early formulations of the law, which imply quantitative predictions only about equilibrium states. The nineteenth-century law has been tightened, including within quantum thermodynamics, a field that has taken off in the past decade. I will illustrate this progress with examples. As a spoiler alert: I know of no ways to leverage quantum phenomena to break the second law. However, quantum and other resources enable us to “bend around” the second law: we can appear to violate the law while, in fact, subtly avoiding assumptions behind modern formulations of the law. Reference: Yunger Halpern, Quantum Steampunk: The Physics of Yesterday’s Tomorrow, Johns Hopkins University Press (2022).



Light refreshments will follow the lecture in CL 1008.


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