Doctoral Dissertation Research: Using Topology to Answer Philosophical Questions About General Relativity

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Project OverviewThe PI proposes to engage in a conceptual analysis of the notion of physicality as it is used in the context of the philosophical foundations of physics using tools from topology and relativity theory; he plans to develop a mathematical framework for explicating the meaning of physicality in relation to models. The grant will support travel to two locations where researchers are working on topics related to aspects of his work, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Washington, Seattle. Intellectual MeritIn Pittsburgh, the student plans to work with two senior professors. With one, he aims to develop the conceptual basis for a proposal by Stephen Hawking to connect topological stability with the "physically meaningful" properties of a model; with the other he aims to explore applying topology to inter-theoretic reduction. In Seattle, the student plans to work with another senior professor to extend known results in topology to further develop his framework. Interacting with these scholars will serve to enhance the quality of his dissertation research. Potential Broader ImpactsThe PI has plans to disseminate his research to the physics community in addition to the philosophy of science community; he plans to do so through publication of technical results in physics journals and through presentations at physics conferences. He explicitly mentions presenting his results at the annual March and April meetings of the American Physical Society and the 29th Pacific Coast Gravity meeting in 2014.