Title:
Sem-Local Quantum Physics:
Location:
University of York, York
Organiser:
Janssen, Daan Willem
Start Date:
29-06-2026
End Date:
02-07-2026
Link:
Description:
This conference brings together researchers working on semi-local aspects of quantum field theory, including topics such as asymptotic or boundary features of field theories, relational observables and quantum reference frames, as well as relativistic quantum information and quantum measurement theory. The conference is immediately followed by a 1 day meeting of the Algebraic Quantum Field Theory UK network which may be of interest to many participants.
Algebraic QFT places strong emphasis on algebras of local observables. Its clear conceptual and technical framework has led to important progress, such as the rigorous perturbative construction of quantized gauge theories. It forms the foundation of local measurement theory, providing novel insights into locality and causality in relativistic quantum information, and its operator algebraic techniques have been a recent focus in quantum gravity research. However, various relevant observables of interest for a quantum field are not well-localised. Examples include 'dressed', relational or asymptotic/boundary observables in QED, more general Yang-Mills theories and quantum gravitation. We are therefore challenged with incorporating these semi-local observables into a rigorous framework for quantum field theory and establish their operator algebraic structure, as well as addressing operational questions such as to what extent these observables can be measured.
The past few years have seen numerous developments involving semi-local features of quantum fields and the challenges that they present. This conference provides an opportunity to present and discuss these developments and set the agenda on semi-local quantum physics for the upcoming years. We invite all researchers working on or interested in these topics to attend and apply to present their work.