On November 27th, the Department of Mathematics will host the workshop Mathematical and Philosophical Foundations Of Open Systems, which will take place from 9:00 to 12:30 in Sala Consiglio.
The existence of open systems in physics poses outstanding philosophical issues. Indeed, while closed systems can be studied in isolation from the rest of the universe, open systems interact with the environment by exchanging heat and work, information, or matter. As such, open systems are subjected to changes due to uncontrollable external influences, thereby making it challenging to precisely determine their properties. Since typical systems in the physical universe are not isolated, providing an adequate description of open systems lies at the heart of contemporary physics. In quantum theory, the issue is further complicated by the presence of entanglement between distant systems. Even more puzzling, at a cosmological scale, it is still a controversial matter whether the whole universe should be considered a closed or open system.
This workshop brings together philosophers and mathematical physicists to discuss the foundations of open systems both from a formal and a conceptual point of view. The invited speakers are Mike Cuffaro (LMU, Munich), Michele Correggi (Polimi), Karim Thebault (University of Bristol) and Sebastien Rivat (LMU, Munich).
The poster with the programme can be downloaded here.
The participation is free of charge. This event is supported by MUR (Ministero dell’università e della ricerca), through the grant Department of Exellence 2023-27, and the PRIN 2022 project Analogical Reasoning in Contemporary Physical Theories (ID: 2022F4Z8YH, P.I. : G. Valente).
Organizing committee: A. Brandelet (Polimi), M. Moscolari (Polimi) and G. Valente (Polimi).