9:45am - 6pm British Summer Time (GMT+1)

Thursday 7 July 2022

First blue sky thinking workshop: The arrow of time

Join us online for the first of three annual one-day workshops in which we will bring together a network of scientists and philosophers from around the world working on foundational problems relating to the arrow of time in theoretical physics (with a focus in particular on quantum mechanics and the nature of entanglement and decoherence in open quantum systems and the quantum-classical transition), philosophy and biology.

The talks are meant to be deliberately speculative and focus on current problems and open issues in the field. This workshop will be held online and will encourage debate amongst delegates.

Free

Online
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This is an online event only. Please register via the Eventbrite booking page. You will be emailed a link to join the workshop.

Speakers

  • Professor Huw Price
  • Dr Katie Robertson
  • Professor Carlo Rovelli
  • Professor Joan Vaccaro
  • Professor Vlatko Vedral.

Schedule

TimeActivity

9:45am - 10am

Welcome and introduction

Jim Al-Khalili

10am - 10:30am

Causation and the open future; Russell, Eddington and Ramsey

Huw Price

10:30am - 11am

What can we learn about time from the violation of time reversal symmetry?

Joan Vaccaro

11am - 11:30am

How statistical mechanical probabilities emerge from entanglement

Katie Robertson

11:30am -12 noon

Discussion

Led by Simon Saunders

Watch the first session video

12 noon - 1pm

Lunch

1pm - 1:30pm

Five quantum experiments with time

Vlatko Vedral

1:30pm - 2pm

Naturalist metaphysics and the direction of time

Alison Fernandes

2pm - 2.30pm

Why do we remember the past (and not the future)? The physical root of the epistemic time asymmetry (no, it’s not quantum theory)

Carlo Rovelli

2:30pm - 3pm

Discussion

Led by Andrea Rocco

Watch the second session video

3pm - 3:30pm

Break

3:30pm - 4pm

Evolutionary scaling of intelligence via bioelectrical circuits

Michael Levin

4pm - 4:30pm

Gravitational entropy and a generalised 2nd law of thermodynamics

Paul Davies

4:30pm - 5pm

Quantum dynamical emergence of the laws of physics

Sean Carroll

5pm - 5:30pm

Discussion

Led by Clarice Aiello

5:30pm - 6pm

Summary, open questions and close

Led by Jim Al-Khalili

Watch the third session video