What Was the Impact of the QG11 Conference in Zurich?

[marcus]

What significance do you attribute to the June 2011 QG11 conference at Zurich, if any?

John Baez has posted some about it, as have others. To check out the conference website you can simply google:

qg11 zurich​

Let me know if that doesn't work for you. It works for me but this may be because Google knows what I'm interested in

One of the things the conference seems to do is merge Loop and String into a larger overall field of QG.

It gets prominent people from various QG branches on the same stage talking to the same audience. There are sure to be a lot of questions and discussion from the audience. This could be one way in which QG11 is meaningful---as the first combined all-QG conference.

If googling "qg11 zurich" does not work for you try this, and check it out:
http://www.conferences.itp.phys.ethz.ch/doku.php?id=qg11:start

 

[marcus]

There is the question "why bother to work out a QG at all?"

The project has all sorts of implications and people see it a lot of different ways. In one sense it has to do with how we think of space and time. Or how we mathematically represent the basic geometry context of the universe in which events take place.

I'd like to hear some other people's ideas about the main motive(s) for studying QG. And so I'll briefly sketch my own thoughts on the subject.

I think if you go back to the origins of science in Ionia 6th century BC (as Carl Sagan does, for example) you already see the desire for a geometrical model of the universe. The idea of a cosmos subject to geometrical measurement and law.

For us, that means understanding the (mis-named) "big bang"----resolving the singularity.
That is what our historical era can contribute to the Ionian science project.

That means to understand how geometry and matter interact at very high density where quantum effects presumably dominate.

Gravity means the interaction of geometry with matter, and this is what quantum gravity means: the very high density edition.

 

[marcus]

There are 114 registered participants, so far. Many are well-known to us. I mentioned John Baez, here is a sampling of other familiar names from among the participants:
Luis Alvarez-Gaume CERN (dir. of theory division)
Hermann Nicolai Potsdam AEI (dir. of qg and unification division)
Abhay Ashtekar Penn State (dir. of IGC)
John Barrett Nottingham (chair ESF's qg network)
Lance Dixon SLAC (all these people should be familiar to us...)
Ted Jacobson Maryland
Jerzy Lewandowski Warsaw
...
There are a lot more...

Topics to be covered at the conference:
General quantum theory, relativistic quantum theory, emergence of space(-time)
General quantum field theory, including deformations of QFTs
QFT on curved and NC space-times
Canonical quantum gravity and supergravity
Regge calculus
String theory and M-theory
Loop gravity, spin foam
Quantum cosmology

Here is the list of confirmed speakers:

Joakim Arnlind (AEI Potsdam)
Abhay Ashtekar (Penn State)
Costas Bachas (ENS Paris)
John Baez (Riverside)
John Barrett (Nottingham)
Niklas Beisert (AEI Potsdam)
Matthias Blau (Bern)
Guillaume Bossard (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris)
Ali Chamseddine (Beirut)
Ben Craps (Bruxelles)
Axel de Goursac (Louvain)
Lance Dixon (SLAC)
Henriette Elvang (Michigan)
Laurent Freidel (Perimeter)
Stefan Hollands (Cardiff)
Jens Hoppe (Stockholm)
Ted Jacobson (Maryland)
Jerzy Jurkiewicz (Krakow)
Gandalf Lechner (Vienna)
Jerzy Lewandowski (Warsaw)
Roberto Longo (Rome)
Viatcheslav Mukhanov (Munich)
Hermann Nicolai (AEI Potsdam)
Michael Reiterer (ETH Zurich)
Martin Reuter (Mainz)
Carlo Rovelli (Marseille)
Misha Shaposhnikov (EPF Lausanne)
Raimar Wulkenhaar (Münster)
(Loll and/or Ambjorn remain to be confirmed)

 

[MTd2]

So, alternatives to string theory are now running at 1/5 of their average attendance level. That's interesting.

 

[marcus]

Well that has some value as an indicator but I would emphasize that QG11 is not at all "alternatives to string". It combines pursuit and discussion of string with other ways of looking at how the quantum geometry of the universe interacts with matter.
==quote==
Topics to be covered at the conference:
General quantum theory, relativistic quantum theory, emergence of space(-time)
General quantum field theory, including deformations of QFTs
QFT on curved and NC space-times
Canonical quantum gravity and supergravity
Regge calculus
String theory and M-theory
Loop gravity, spin foam
Quantum cosmology
==endquote==

I think the QG11 is important partly because of the influential people from various different lines who will have time to get together and compare and discuss----more out in the open than with behind-door committee meeting.

It probably translates eventually into more ability of new PhDs of one type to cross lines and postdoc in a group that is nominally another type. You are a combined field when you support each other's postdocs. And you are more likely to do that if you have met in conference.

Further down the line I think it means more diversity in co-authorships.

This year there was something published by a pair of authors one PhD student in Littlejohn's group at UC Berkeley and the other in Rovelli group at Marseille. Conference breeds more of that kind of cross boundary collaboration.
================

BTW MTd2, since you mentioned attendance at QG11, I count some 170 registered for Loops 2011.

Some nine or ten of the PhD students and postdocs who attend Loops 2011 in Madrid will also be showing up two weeks later at Zurich for QG11. The loop people are obviously quite interested in attending QG11 and hearing what other QG-types have to say.
http://www.iem.csic.es/loops11/
http://www.conferences.itp.phys.ethz.ch/doku.php?id=qg11:start

 

[marcus]

The program of talks is starting to be posted:
http://www.conferences.itp.phys.ethz.ch/doku.php?id=qg11:programme

Titles
Abhay Ashtekar: Quantum Cosmology and the Very Early Universe

Costas Bachas: The problem of localization of gravity

Ben Craps: Cosmological singularities in string theory

Axel de Goursac: Renormalizability of noncommutative quantum field theories

Ted Jacobson: How general is the generalized second law?

Roberto Longo: Boundary Quantum Field Theory and Conformal Field Theory

Hermann Nicolai: Infinite-dimensional symmetries and the Wheeler-DeWitt equation

Michael Reiterer: A class of gauges for the Einstein equations

Martin Reuter: Einstein-Cartan Theory and Asymptotic Safety

Scheduled speakers for whom titles haven't yet been posted:

Jan Ambjorn (Copenhagen)
Joakim Arnlind (AEI Potsdam)
John Baez (Riverside)
John Barrett (Nottingham)
Niklas Beisert (AEI Potsdam)
Matthias Blau (Bern)
Guillaume Bossard (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris)
Lance Dixon (SLAC)
Henriette Elvang (Michigan)
Laurent Freidel (Perimeter)
Stefan Hollands (Cardiff)
Jens Hoppe (Stockholm)
Jerzy Jurkiewicz (Krakow)
Gandalf Lechner (Vienna)
Jerzy Lewandowski (Warsaw)
Renate Loll (Utrecht)
Viatcheslav Mukhanov (Munich)
Carlo Rovelli (Marseille)
Misha Shaposhnikov (EPF Lausanne)
Raimar Wulkenhaar (Münster)

The scheduled talks are each for 1 hour, followed by a break allowing continued discussion. It's a leisurely format.
An additional 4 hours have been reserved for seminar talks by speakers chosen during the conference. I suppose these could turn out to be "parallel sessions" responding to interest in special topics generated during the Q&A and the coffee-break discussions between the scheduled plenary talks. It isn't clear yet how the shorter seminar talks will be organized, but presumably some of the younger participants will present their research.

 

[marcus]

More talks have been posted. The conference starts Tuesday 14 June, in just under two weeks. Now we can get a clearer idea of what the main topics will be:

Ashtekar: Quantum Cosmology and the Very Early Universe
Bachas: The problem of localization of gravity
Baez: Higher gauge theory, division algebras and superstrings
Beisert: Symmetries and Integrability for Scattering Amplitudes in N=4 Super Yang-Mills Theory
Bossard: Toward the consistency of N=8 supergravity as a quantum field theory
Craps: Cosmological singularities in string theory
de Goursac: Renormalizability of noncommutative quantum field theories
Giulini: Very basic issues concerning quantum mechanics and gravitation
Hoppe: Fundamental Structures of M-brane Theory
Jacobson: How general is the generalized second law?
Lechner: Covariant and local deformations of quantum field theories
Loll: Nonperturbative highlights on quantum gravity from CDT
Longo: Boundary Quantum Field Theory and Conformal Field Theory
Nicolai: Infinite-dimensional symmetries and the Wheeler-DeWitt equation
Reiterer: A class of gauges for the Einstein equations
Reuter: Einstein-Cartan Theory and Asymptotic Safety
Rovelli: Loop quantum gravity: the covariant dynamics
Steinacker: Matrix models, noncommutative gauge theory and emergent geometry
Wulkenhaar: Ward identities in matrix models arising from noncommutative geometry

 

[marcus]

The full program has now been posted. The QG-11 conference starts next week. The five organizers are Barrett, Grosse, Nicolai, Rovelli, Picken. They come from different quantum geometry/gravity subfields. For example Nicolai does string. Grosse does noncommutative field theory, Rovelli LQG, and so on.

It's interesting to see what the makeup is. I think I will highlight the talks that I notice to be obviously or probably stringy. If somebody wants to add one that I missed, or eliminate any that really belong in some other category, please post your suggestions, or send me a PM.

Ambjorn: CDT, a quantum theory of geometry
Arnlind: Poisson Algebraic Geometry and Matrix Regularizations
Ashtekar: Quantum Cosmology and the Very Early Universe
Bachas: The problem of localization of gravity
Baez: Higher gauge theory, division algebras and superstrings
Barrett: State sum models and the spectral action
Beisert: Symmetries and Integrability for Scattering Amplitudes in N=4 Super Yang-Mills Theory
Blau: String Theory as a Theory of Quantum Gravity: a Status Report
Bossard: Toward the consistency of N=8 supergravity as a quantum field theory
Chamseddine: The Spectral Action
Compere: The translation anomaly of asymptotically flat spacetimes
Craps: Cosmological singularities in string theory
de Goursac: Renormalizability of noncommutative quantum field theories
Dixon: Ultraviolet behavior of quantum (super)gravity through four loops
Elvang: Symmetry constraints on the UV behavior of N=8 supergravity
Giulini: Very basic issues concerning quantum mechanics and gravitation
Hoppe: Fundamental Structures of M-brane Theory
Jacobson: How general is the generalized second law?
Lechner: Covariant and local deformations of quantum field theories
Lewandowski: Canonical LQG: soluble models and other advances
Litim: Renormalisation group and the Planck scale
Loll: Nonperturbative highlights on quantum gravity from CDT
Longo: Boundary Quantum Field Theory and Conformal Field Theory
Mukhanov: Massive Gravity
Nicolai: Infinite-dimensional symmetries and the Wheeler-DeWitt equation
Reiterer: A class of gauges for the Einstein equations
Reuter: Einstein-Cartan Theory and Asymptotic Safety
Rovelli: Loop quantum gravity: the covariant dynamics
Speziale: Spin networks as twisted geometries
Steinacker: Matrix models, noncommutative gauge theory and emergent geometry
Wulkenhaar: Ward identities in matrix models arising from noncommutative geometry

http://www.conferences.itp.phys.ethz.ch/doku.php?id=qg11:start
I count 31 talks here. Several are about N=4 or N=8 supergravity that may be "inspired" but not really very stringy. Many seem also to be in noncommutative field theory, or NC geometry. I have marked 8 of the 31 (roughly a quarter of them) blue. Not sure about Nicolai's talk. If anyone has corrections to suggest, let me know.
I think of Beisert and Bachas as string theorists, but will their talks be primarily string or aimed in some other direction? We may have to wait to find out.

I also color-coded CDT talks (causal dynamical triangulations) and asymptotic safety QG talks

Besides these 31 invited talks, time has been set aside for shorter talks by other participants at the conference TBA. No listing has been provided as yet. I count 110 registered participants but have no idea which of these might be speaking in the scheduled TBA time-slots.

 

[john baez]

What significance do you attribute to the June 2011 QG11 conference at Zurich, if any?

Well, at a very mundane level, the big European "Research Networking Programme" called "http://www.maths.nottingham.ac.uk/qg/" " had a chunk of money left over that they wanted to spend before the program comes to close this summer. So they decided to have a big conference.