Event

Jul 16, 2018
Invariance Essentialism

One of the striking features of fundamental physics is that certain important properties of elementary particle systems are defined as invariants under specific groups of symmetry transformations of these systems. For example, rest mass and relativistic spin are said to be defined as invariants under the Poincaré group of relativistic boosts, translations, and rotations. The goal of this paper is to provide a metaphysically perspicuous account of this sort of definition, and to evaluate the extent to which the resulting definitions satisfy broadly structuralist desiderata.

Address

MPIWG, Harnackstraße 5, 14195 Berlin, Germany

Room
Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
Contact and Registration

No registration necessary; if you need further information, please contact Kseniia Mohelsky.

2018-07-16T14:00:00SAVE IN I-CAL 2018-07-16 14:00:00 2018-07-16 16:00:00 Invariance Essentialism One of the striking features of fundamental physics is that certain important properties of elementary particle systems are defined as invariants under specific groups of symmetry transformations of these systems. For example, rest mass and relativistic spin are said to be defined as invariants under the Poincaré group of relativistic boosts, translations, and rotations. The goal of this paper is to provide a metaphysically perspicuous account of this sort of definition, and to evaluate the extent to which the resulting definitions satisfy broadly structuralist desiderata. Alexander Blum Alexander Blum Europe/Berlin public