Warsaw Spacetime Colloquium: Erik Curiel (9 April on Zoom)

On Friday, 9 April, Erik Curiel (LMU Munich, Harvard University) will give a talk entitled “The Dynamics of Classical Physics Determines the Structure of Newtonian Spacetime; That of Quantum Physics Does Not” (abstract below).

The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CEST). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl.

The program for the summer semester can be found here, while the recordings of the previous meetings are available on the ICFO’s YouTube channel.

ABSTRACT

I describe a few theorems that show that, in classical mechanics (Newtonian and Lagrangian mechanics), the intrinsic structure of the dynamics naturally distinguishes the concept of interaction from that of evolution, and, correlatively, position from momentum. One gets for free, moreover, a characterization of “free” evolution (or “isolation”). This is not the case in Hamiltonian and quantum mechanics. I show that the theorems allow one to entirely reconstruct the full 4-dimensional spacetime structure of Newtonian physics from classical dynamics, again in a way not possible in quantum theory. Thus, the dynamics of quantum theory needs to be hooked up to background spacetime structure “by hand” in a way not required in classical mechanics. I conclude by discussing what I take to be the lessons for all this with regard to the Measurement Problem: not only is the idea of “measurement” problematic in quantum theory, but the entire idea of “interaction” per se in quantum theory is more deeply problematic than has been recognized. There may also be some lessons for quantum gravity somewhere in here, but who really knows?