

Progress and Visions in Quantum Theory in View of Gravity: Bridging foundations of physics and mathematics
Discussion sessions
The conference consisted of talks and discussion sessions. The following topics have been discussed among all participants in plenary or parallel sessions of 60 minutes each.
- Conceptual significance and experimental possibilities of Quantum Field Theory beyond scattering theory
- Which mathematical and physical structures of Quantum Field Theory are believed to transcend the gravity-quantum unification
- The role of observables in Quantum Gravity in light of diffeomorphism invariance and quantization
- Axiomatization of Quantum Field Theory: Will practical Quantum Field Theory one day be replaced by a proper mathematical framework with axiomatizable foundations?
- A critical assessment of current approaches to Quantum Gravity concerning unification
- Theory-experiment wishlist: What is most urgently needed by one side from the other in order to make progress?
- Do we really have a fundamental understanding of ordinary matter? Can Quantum Mechanics be derived from Quantum Field Theory?
- Does gravity play a role when considering interpretations or modifications of Quantum Theory?
- Guiding questions for the next generation
- Which problems and which opportunities would arise if gravity were fundamentally classical?
- Unification wish list: What questions do we hope/expect/demand a fundamental theory to answer? What is a checklist for a new unified theory?
- What cherished physical principles are you most willing to give up, and why, if Quantum Gravity won't allow them all?
- Nature of Time (Is time fundamental? What mathematical structure could time have?)
- What is the meaning of probabilities in physical theories where properties/events do not repeat themselves?
- What is the microscopic structure of spacetime? If spacetime were fundamentally discrete, what would be the macroscopically observable implications?
- Tabletop/low energy experiments for probing gravitational effects in quantum systems
- Must spacetime singularities be resolved in Quantum Gravity? Will new insights into the causal structure of quantum spacetime shift the focus in studying black holes?
- To what extent do the rigorous proofs of mathematical results in Quantum Field Theory contribute to our "understanding" of those results?
- Is Quantum Field Theory in a classical external field (gravitational or electromagnetic) well understood conceptually and mathematically?
- What is the measurement problem in Quantum Field Theory?
- What is the significance of a global state? Is global hyperbolicity a necessary condition for consistent Quantum Field Theory?
- What counts as "understanding" in Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory?
- Does gravitational entanglement imply that gravity is quantum? (And if yes, may it inform specific Quantum Gravity Theories?)
- Quantum Causal Indefinite Structures and Quantum Field Theory - Mutual inspirations and conflicting concepts
- New experimental paradigms at the interface of Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Field Theory and gravity which are currently controversial or go beyond what has been published so far
- Ideas for innovative formats of conferences: How can we communicate more efficiently and understand more?
- Which visions do senior scientists have for the future? What could senior scientists learn from juniors?
- What you always wanted to ask/know/clarify?
Date and Location
October 01 - 05, 2018
Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences
Inselstraße 22
04103 Leipzig
Germany
see travel instructions
Scientific Organizers
- Felix Finster, University of Regensburg, Regensburg (Germany)
- Domenico Giulini, University of Hanover (Germany)
- Johannes Kleiner, University of Hanover (Germany)
- Jürgen Tolksdorf, MPI for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig (Germany)
Administrative Contact
Antje VandenbergMPI for Mathematics in the Sciences
Leipzig (Germany)
Contact by Email