Emergence and Effective Field Theories

In a wide range of areas in physics, including condensed matter physics, cosmology, high energy physics, string theory and quantum gravity, a lot of emphasis is put on the notion of effective field theories. This workshop focuses on what is common among these uses of effective field theory and in particular on the meaning of claims made using them that various features of the physical world are "emergent." What is sometimes meant by "emergence" is that there are macroscopic phenomena whose description requires concepts and principles that are not part of the description of the fundamental degrees of freedom. This may sound simple, but lurking behind it are a minefield of conceptual and technical issues that have led to confusion among both physicists and philosophers. The aim of this workshop is to bring together physicists from the several areas where effective field theories are employed with a small number of philosophers who have been investigating methodological issues related to making sense of the concept of emergence.

Participants:

Jon Bain, Polytechnic Institute of New York University
Ganapathy Baskaran, Institute of Mathematical Sciences
Bob Batterman, University of Pittsburgh
Gordon Belot, University of Michigan
Joseph Ben Geloun, Perimeter Institute
Joseph Berkowitz, University of Toronto
John Berlinsky, Perimeter Institute
Hector Bombin, Perimeter Institute
Avery Broderick, Perimeter Institute
Cliff Burgess, Perimeter Institute and McMaster University
Hyung S. Choi, The John Templeton Foundation
Yves Couder, Ecole Normale Superieure
David Craig, Perimeter Institute
Erik Curiel, Rothman Institute of Philosophy
Tommaso Demarie, Macquarie University
Bill Edwards, Perimeter Institute
Doreen Fraser, University of Waterloo
Laurent Freidel, Perimeter Institute
Silvano Garnerone, Institute for Quantum Computing
Michel Gingras, University of Waterloo
Nigel Goldenfeld, University of Illinois at Urbana 
Alioscia Hamma, Perimeter Institute
Lucien Hardy, Perimeter Institute
William Harper, Rotman Institute of Philosophy
Bei-Lok Hu, University of Maryland
Ted Jacobson, University of Maryland 
Leo Kadanoff, The James Franck Institute, University of Chicago
Catherine Kallin, McMaster University
Adrian Kent, Perimeter Institute
John Klauder, University of Florida
David Kubiznak, Perimeter Institute
Louis Leblond, Perimeter Institute
Rob Leigh, Perimeter Institute
Akimasa Miyake, Perimeter Institute
Margaret Morrison, University of Toronto
Rob Myers, Perimeter Institute
Manu Paranjape, University of Montreal
Robert Pfeifer, Perimeter Institute
Laura Ruetsche, University of Michigan
Mehdi Saravani, Perimeter Institute
Ramamurti Shankar, Yale University
Mark Shumelda, University of Toronto
Chris Smeenk, University of Western Ontario
Lee Smolin, Perimeter Institute
Misha Smolkin, Perimeter Institute
Rafael Sorkin, Perimeter Institute
Philip Stamp, University of British Columbia
Danny Terno, Perimeter Institute
Bill Unruh, University of British Columbia
Guifre Vidal, Perimeter Institute
Pedro Vieira, Perimeter Institute
Robert Wald, University of Chicago
Andrew Wayne, University of Guelph
Silke Weinfurtner, SISSA
Dan Wohns, Perimeter Institute
Gang Xu, Cornell University
Peter Zimmerman, University of Guelph
Jonathan Ziprick, Perimeter Institute