invites you to the second of its interdisciplinary seminars, and the first seminar in the special series "Foundations". In this series, that starts this semester but continuous on into next year, CLEA invites scholars that are actively engaged in the research on the foundations of a particular discipline. The lecture shall always be directed to a broad interdisciplinary audience, and the discussions aim at confronting the foundations of the different disciplines. The series of lectures "Foundations" is also a part of the inter faculty doctorate training, and hence valid for the doctorate training of all doctorate students that have subscribed to it.
Friday Feb. 16 at 5 pm in room 4C304 (building C, 4th floor)
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Campus Oefenplein.
The presentation with questions will last about an hour. Afterwards, time is reserved for an in-depth group discussion of the topic. Sandwiches will be served during the break.
Quantum physics and many-valued logics were born nearly simultaneously but the early attempts of combining them failed and the opinion that "quantum logic", although non-classical, is a two-valued logic prevailed.
The recently observed renewal of interest in applying many-valued logics to quantum systems is closely connected with a new branch of mathematics: fuzzy set theory. Fuzzy sets form a bridge by which one can pass from two-valued quantum logic to infinitely-valued Lukasiewics logic.
The lecture will be illustrated by elementary examples of non-classical behaviour of quantum objects and their description in the language of infinite-valued logic and fuzzy sets, comprehensible to an audience with no mathematical or physical background.
About the lecturer:
Prof. Dr. J. Pykacz works at the University of Gdansk in Poland. His research is situated in different fields connected to the foundations of physics, such as 'the problem of locality, Bell inequalities, and separability in quantum mechanics', 'the axiomatic foundations of quantum mechanics' and 'quantum logic'. He has also been active in research on mathematical structures connected to quantum mechanics, such as 'probability models', 'fuzzy set theories' and 'orthomodular lattices'. He is a former president of the International Quantum Structures Association and is now recently, together with some of his colleagues, forming a research group on the new field of 'quantum computation' at the University of Gdansk.
More info at the CLEA secretariat: phone 02-629 33 73 (afternoon)