This entirely online reading group is held on Tuesdays, 3–4pm UK time (unless otherwise stated). Organisers: Dominic Ryder (LSE), Aditya Jha (Cambridge) and Bryan Roberts (LSE).
Michaelmas Term 2024: Statistical Mechanics of Self-Gravitating Systems
8 October
Craig Callender. 2011. 'Hot and heavy matters in the foundations of statistical mechanics'. Foundations of Physics, 41(6), 960–981.
15 October
Katie Robertson. 2019. 'Stars and steam engines: To what extent do thermodynamics and statistical mechanics apply to self-gravitating systems?', Synthese, 196:1783–1808, S.I.: Infinite Idealizations in Science.
22 October, 4–5pm
Craig Callender. 2010. 'The past hypothesis meets gravity'. In Gerhard Ernst & Andreas Hüttemann (eds.), Time, Chance and Reduction: Philosophical Aspects of Statistical Mechanics. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 34–58.
29 October
David Wallace. 2011. 'Gravity, entropy, and cosmology: In search of clarity'. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 61(3), 513–540.
5 November
John Earman. 2006. 'The past hypothesis: not even false'. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 37(3), 399–430.
12 November
Carlo Rovelli. 2018. 'Where was past low-entropy?'. Entropy 21(5), 466.
19 November
Feraz Azhar. 2017. 'Three aspects of typicality in multiverse cosmology'. In: Massimi, M., Romeijn, JW., Schurz, G. (eds.), EPSA15 Selected Papers. European Studies in Philosophy of Science, vol 5. Springer, Cham.
26 November
Øyvind Grøn. 2012. 'Entropy and gravity', Entropy 14, 2456–2477; Special Issue Modified Gravity: From Black Holes Entropy to Current Cosmology, edited by Kazuharu Bamba and Sergei D. Odintsov.