Gravity, the Quantum and Thermodynamics: The Crossroads ofContemporary Theoretical Physics and Philosophy of Physics

引力、量子和热力学：当代理论物理和物理哲学的十字路口

• 批准号: 312032894
• 负责人: Dr. Erik Curiel
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Lichtenberg-Professur für Geschichte und Philosophie der Physik
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2015-12-31 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/312032894?language=en
• 关键词: Gravity; Quantum; Thermodynamics; Crossroads; ofContemporary

This project brings together several research fields that have touched on each other previously but which could all be helped by further integration. Two fields of physics research have attracted some philosophical attention in recent years, but not nearly so much as their importance and prominence in contemporary theoretical physics warrants. Books and papers by physicists and philosophers such as Penrose, Hawking, Wald, Earman, Belot, Ruetsche, Manchak, Weatherall, Wallace, and the project applicant have examined ontological, epistemological, and methodological problems raised by black holes, and in particular their interactions with quantum fields. A second, closely related field, the seemingly thermodynamical nature of black holes, though studied extensively by physicists such as Penrose, Hawking, Wald, Unruh, Ellis and Jacobson, has received relatively little treatment by philosophers, especially given its central importance in theoretical physics today, though that is now beginning to change, driven in part by recent work by the project applicant.The central subject matter of both areas of research lies beyond the reach of current experimentation and observation, making them all speculative in a way unusual even in theoretical physics. In their investigation, therefore, physical questions of a technically sophisticated nature are inextricable from subtle philosophical considerations spanning ontology, epistemology, and methodology, again in a way unusual even in theoretical physics. This project addresses a range of such ontological and methodological problems naturally arising in the intersection of these field, in three complementary stages: first, by clarifying and regimenting the issues in the context of the relevant areas of theoretical physics in a way suited to philosophical analysis; second, by situating and investigating the issues in the context of philosophical debates already present and known in the contemporary literature (e.g., the conceptual structure of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics and the relations between them, and the problems of confirmation and epistemic warrant more generally for theoretical claims); and third, by attempting to articulate and investigate new philosophical questions raised by the unique features of this area of theoretical physics, which the traditional debates do not adequately capture. The third stage is potentially the most important in the project, as it holds out the promise of opening up new fields of philosophical research, thus beginning to develop the philosophy of black hole thermodynamics and quantum field theory on curved spacetime as a mature research field in its own right. Even more, it also holds out the promise of opening up potentially fruitful new avenues of approach to traditional philosophical debates and issues.

该项目汇集了几个研究领域，这些领域以前相互接触，但都可以通过进一步整合得到帮助。近年来，物理学研究的两个领域吸引了一些哲学上的关注，但远没有它们在当代理论物理学中的重要性和突出性那么多。彭罗斯、霍金、沃尔德、厄曼、贝洛特、鲁彻、曼查克、韦瑟罗尔、华莱士和项目申请人等物理学家和哲学家的书籍和论文都研究了黑洞提出的本体论、认识论和方法论问题，特别是它们与量子场的相互作用。第二个密切相关的领域，黑洞的表面物理性质，虽然被彭罗斯，霍金，沃尔德，昂鲁，埃利斯和雅各布森等物理学家广泛研究，但哲学家的处理相对较少，特别是考虑到它在今天的理论物理学中的核心重要性，虽然现在已经开始改变，这两个研究领域的中心主题超出了当前实验和观察的范围，使得它们都以一种即使在理论物理学中也不寻常的方式进行推测。因此，在他们的研究中，具有技术复杂性的物理问题与跨越本体论、认识论和方法论的微妙的哲学考虑密不可分，这在理论物理学中也是不寻常的。该项目分三个互补阶段解决这些领域交叉中自然产生的一系列本体论和方法论问题：第一，以适合哲学分析的方式，在理论物理学相关领域的背景下澄清和整理这些问题;第二，通过在当代文献中已经存在和已知的哲学辩论的背景下定位和调查这些问题（例如，热力学和统计力学的概念结构以及它们之间的关系，以及更普遍地为理论主张提供确认和认识保证的问题）;第三，试图阐明和研究由理论物理学这一领域的独特特征所提出的新的哲学问题，传统的辩论没有充分抓住这些问题。第三阶段可能是该项目中最重要的阶段，因为它有望开辟哲学研究的新领域，从而开始发展黑洞热力学哲学和弯曲时空的量子场论，使其本身成为一个成熟的研究领域。 更重要的是，它还有望为传统哲学辩论和问题开辟可能富有成效的新途径。