Welcome to the philosophical corner of your Part III course. We meet for 90 minutes each Tuesday at 14:00 (UK time). Weekly readings and recordings of the lecturers will be included below. Contact the lecturers if you would like to join the email list: Jeremy Butterfield (jb56@cam.ac.uk) and Bryan W. Roberts (b.w.roberts@lse.ac.uk).
Office Hours Jeremy Butterfield Office Hours Thursdays from 15:30-16:30. Please email (jb56@cam.ac.uk) to attend.
Recordings Screen capture of each live lecture is uploaded after it is complete, as a provision for students in other time zones.
| Wk | Date | Topic | Handout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 Jan 2020 | Spacelike correlations in quantum field theory | Jeremy Handout. Optional: Landsman (1996) Review of Haag and Clifton and Halvorson (2001) Entanglement and Open Systems in Algebraic Quantum Field Theory |
| 2 | 02 Feb 2020 | Inequivalent Representations, Introduced | Jeremy Handout. Optional: Landsman (2006) When Champions Meet: Bohr vs. Einstein and Halvorson (2004) Complementarity of representations in quantum mechanics |
| 3 | 09 Feb 2020 | Algebras, representations and GNS | Jeremy Handout - AUGMENTED after class. Optional: Roberts, The GNS Theorem for Pauli Operators, and Swanson (2017) A philosopher's guide to the foundations of QFT |
| 4 | 16 Feb 2020 | Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking | Bryan Handout. Optional: Baker and Halvorson (2013) How is spontaneous symmetry breaking possible?, Roberts and Roepstorff (1969) Some Basic Concepts of Algebraic Quantum Theory. |
| 5 | 23 Feb 2020 | Particles and Fields | Jeremy Handout. Optional: Halvorson (2001) Reeh-Schlieder Defeats Newton-Wigner: On Alternative Localization Schemes in Relativistic Quantum Field Theory |
| 6 | 02 Mar 2020 | The CPT Theorem | Bryan's Handout. Optional: Greenberg (2006) Why is CPT fundamental? and Swanson (2019) Deciphering the algebraic CPT theorem |
| 7 | 09 Mar 2020 | The Unruh Effect | Jeremy + Bryan Handout. Optional: Earman (2011) The Unruh Effect for Philosophers and Clifton and Halvorson (2001) Are Rindler quanta real? |
| 9 | 16 Mar 2020 | Acoustic Black Holes | Bryan Handout. Optional further reading: Unruh (1981) Experimental black hole evaporation? |
| Wk | Date | Topic | Handout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 Oct 2020 | Background Philosophy and Quantum Theory | Course Guide (Syllabus), Philosophy of Physics Reading List, Landsman's Quantum theory and functional analysis summary, and Jeremy's handout, "Quantum theory in Hilbert space: A review". |
| 2 | 20 Oct 2020 | Background Philosophy and Quantum Theory | Jeremy's handout continued, "Quantum theory in Hilbert space: A review". Supplementary: Bell (1966) "On the problem of hidden variables in quantum mechanics" |
| 3 | 27 Oct 2020 | Background Philosophy and Quantum Theory | Jeremy's handout continued, "Quantum theory in Hilbert space: A review". Supplementary: Roberts Handout on time observables and on time reversal and superselection. |
| 4 | 03 Nov 2020 | Quantisation of linear dynamical systems I: CCRs and Complexification | Jeremy's handout and Bryan's supplement |
| 5 | 10 Nov 2020 | Quantisation of linear dynamical systems I: Symplectic structure | Handout |
| 6 | 17 Nov 2020 | One Particle Structures | Handout |
| 7 | 24 Nov 2020 | Fock Space | Handout |
| 8 | 01 Dec 2020 | The Stone-von Neumann Theorem | Final updated handout, plus bonus holiday reading: Summers (1998) On the Stone-von Neumann Uniqueness and Its Ramifcations and Dirac (1927) classic on The Quantum Theory of the Emission and Absorption of Radiation, and Landsman Between Classical and Quantum. Also Bryan's slides on the CCRs - see the end on uniqueness. |