FQXi‘s FOCUS ON “EVENTS”: THE PHYSICS OF WHAT HAPPENS
An international request for proposals – open to all researchers and
outreach specialists
Initial Applications due February 15, 2015 at 11:59PM EST
FQXi‘s programming encompasses both ‘open’ requests for proposals and
more targeted programs in particular areas of thought. The current
request for proposals targets research on the Physics of “Events” both
in physics and also in related fields including cosmology,
astrophysics, philosophy of physics, complex systems, biophysics,
computer science, and mathematics.
Everyday reality is largely made up of events: things that happen and
don’t “un-happen”. These events separate the past from the future via
the present, in which events are “happening”. The world of fundamental
physics, however, is quite different.
In general relativity (GR) for instance, “event” simply refers to a
space-time location, which may or may not coincide with something
happening. The theory has no fundamental entity that corresponds to an
event that “happens” or does not. In quantum mechanics, the
measurement of some observable can constitute an “event”, but this
process is subject to differing theoretical and philosophical
interpretations. The evolving wavefunction — like the evolving matter
and gravitational fields in GR — has no “event” built in; they must
be identified by reference to a laboratory or other macroscopic
observer. Furthermore, it is unclear to what extent events in the
macroscopic world should really be considered quantum measurements of
the archetypal variety studied in the quantum foundations literature.
Thus, both of our fundamental theories of physics are by themselves
event-free (or at best “event-lite”), and we face the question of how
to draw a firm connection between these theories and the events that
make up what happens in experienced reality. Drawing those connections
— and through the process, analyzing the notion of “event” as it
appears in its many forms throughout physics — is the aim of this
request for proposals.
Guidelines: http://fqxi.org/grants/large/initial
Application: http://fqxi.org/grants/large/initial/application
