Black Holes and Quantum Field Theory on Curved Spacetime (2022 - 2024)

Abstract

Over the last 25 years, philosophy of physics has become a well-established discipline, in seamless contact with both the physics community (especially foundations of physics), and the broader philosophy community (especially metaphysics and general philosophy of science). Philosophers of physics are now able to address conceptual issues about cutting-edge physics, not just unresolved conundrums about established twentieth-century physics. Among these current issues, black holes are second to none in importance. More specifically, we need to reconcile the contradictory descriptions of them given by statistical mechanics and by quantum field theory: a contradiction that lies at the heart of Hawking’s infamous Information Loss Paradox.

Project information

Project title
Black Holes and Quantum Field Theory on Curved Spacetime
Funded by
Cambridge-LMU Strategic Partnership
Project link
-
Project duration
2022 - 2024
Funds awarded
-
Project team
Dr. John Dougherty
Dr. Aron Wall (Cambridge)
Associated Chair
Chair of Philosophy of Science