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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 7: Quantum Gravity 4

AGPhil 7.2: Hauptvortrag

Mittwoch, 20. März 2024, 10:15–11:00, PTB SR AvHB

Transplanckian QED: The Discovery of the Landau Pole — •Alexander Blum — May Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, and Albert Einstein Institute, Potsdam

One of the main hopes for a quantum theory of gravity is that it will resolve the ultraviolet behavior of quantum field theory. In my talk, I will discuss the origins of this hope in the mid-1950s, when physicists started exploring the high-energy behavior of quantum electrodynamics and gradually came to realize that the theory would inevitably break down at scales far beyond the Planck scale. I will then reflect on the symbiotic relationship this engendered between quantum field theory (QFT) and quantum gravity (QG): QFT could rest assured that its foundational difficulties would be taken care of by QG, while QG received a robust motivation from the high-energy breakdown of QFT.

Keywords: Quantum Electrodynamics; Quantum Gravity; Landau Pole; Quantum Field Theory; History and Philosophy of Physics