Bridging a gap in research on symmetry
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Bridging a gap in research on symmetry
- January 30, 2025
- UCI logic & philosophy of science professor Jim Weatherall receives multipronged NSF grant for research
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James Weatherall, UC Irvine Chancellor’s Professor and chair of the Department of Logic & Philosophy of Science, has received a $444,729 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the role of symmetry in modern physical theorizing.
“It is widely agreed, among physicists and philosophers of physics alike, that symmetry plays a deep and fundamental role in modern physical theorizing. There is far less agreement, however, about the details of what that role is or should be,” says Weatherall. As a physicist and philosopher of science, Weatherall aims to bridge this gap.
His work will seek to cast new light on issues such as how symmetry is and is not an epistemic notion, the symmetry to reality inference, the relationship between reduction and sophistication about symmetries, the direct empirical significance of symmetries, the significance of edge modes and compositional rules for subsystems, and the shortcomings of various proposals for formal accounts of symmetry.
His three-year project will include production of more than a dozen research articles co-authored with senior collaborators and graduate student researchers. The interdisciplinary research is expected to appear in physics, mathematics, and philosophy journals. Findings on mathematical representation and a bigger picture view on symmetries will be geared toward popular press publications with wider public reach.
Funding for Weatherall’s NSF grant began in August 2024 and runs through July 2027.
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