Events
1st MACBeh Workshop:
Intra-disciplinary knowledge transfer: From Black Hole Thermodynamics to Geometrogenesis
(3-5 December, 2026)
Cross-disciplinary knowledge transfer has been a topic of intense debate in the philosophy of science in the past few years. However, cases in which the mathematical tools are exported within the same discipline have been much less discussed. In this workshop, we will study different cases in which thermodynamics and statistical mechanics have been exported from typical domains (e.g. gases and magnets) to other domains within physics, including black hole thermodynamics, stellar dynamics and geometrogenesis. Questions that will be addressed are: Are these cases examples of scientific imperialism? What is the role of analogies in the export of statistical mechanics to other domains? Are successful cases of knowledge transfer, also cases of inter-theory reduction?
Confirmed speakers:
Aude Corbeel
Niccolò Covoni
Emilia Margoni
Daniele Oriti
Patricia Palacios
Bryan Roberts
Katie Robertson
Pascal Rodríguez-Warnier
Karim Thébault
Francesca Vidotto
David Wallace
Organized by Patricia Palacios and Pascal Rodríguez Warnier
Registration is mandatory, but free of charge: Please fill in the Registration form
Program
Thursday 3.12.2026
Venue: Bibliotheksaula, Hofstallgasse 2-4, 5020, Salzburg
14:00-15:30. Patricia Palacios and Pascal Rodríguez-Warnier: Beyond gases and fluids: Challenges and New Directions in Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
15:30-16:00. Coffee Break
16:00-17:15. Karim Thébault: Intra-disciplinary Knowledge Transfer: From Quantum Brownian Motion to Open Quantum Cosmology
17:15-18:30. Bryan Roberts: TBA
19:00. Conference Dinner in an Austrian Traditional restaurant*
(*Everybody is welcome, although the conference organisation can cover only speaker’s dinners. Please register)
Friday 4.12.2026
Venue: Bibliotheksaula, Hofstallgasse 2-4, 5020, Salzburg
9:00-09:30 Coffee
9:30-10:45. David Wallace: Black Hole Complementarity: an Effective Field Theory perspective
10:45-12:00. Katie Robertson: Black Hole Thermodynamics A Crisis of Identity
12:00-13:30. Lunch
13:30-14:45. Aude Corbeel: Do Black Holes Teleport Quantum Information?
14:45-16:00. Niccolò Covoni: TBA
16:00-16:30 Coffee Break
16:30-17:45. Francesca Vidotto: TBA
Saturday 5.12.2026
Venue: HS 301, Franziskanergasse 1, 5020, Salzburg
9:00-10:15. Emilia Margoni: Knowledge transfer and pursuitworthiness: the case of geometrogenesis (joint work with Elena Castellani)
10:15-11:30. Daniele Oriti: Spacetime as a quantum many-body system
11:30-11:50 Coffee Break
11:50-13:00. Panel discussion, moderated by Pascal Rodríguez-Warnier (all participants)
Conference ends
13:00. Lunch at the Christmas Market (optional)
