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The present paper examines the role of exact results in the theory of many-body physics, and specifically the example of the Mermin-Wagner theorem, a rigorous result concerning the absence of phase transitions in low-dimensional systems. While the theorem has been shown to hold for a wide range of many-body models, it is frequently 'violated' by results derived from the same models using numerical techniques. This raises the question of how scientists regulate their theoretical commitments in such cases, given that the models, too, are often described as approximations to the underlying 'full' many-body problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory and Applications of Models of Computation (TAMC) is an international conference series with an interdisciplinary character bringing together researchers working in computer science, mathematics (especially logic) and the physical sciences. This interdisciplinary approach, with an emphasis on the theory of computation in a broad sense, gives the series its special appeal within China and internationally. At a time when the pressures are increasingly towards narrowly ad hocresearch, and scientific fragmentation, meetings that reassert the importance of theory, fundamental concepts and a wider perspective have an important role to play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given its importance in modern physics, philosophers of science have paid surprisingly little attention to the subject of symmetries and invariances, and they have largely neglected the subtopic of symmetry breaking. I illustrate how the topic of laws and symmetries brings into fruitful interaction technical issues in physics and mathematics with both methodological issues in philosophy of science, such as the status of laws of physics, and metaphysical issues, such as the nature of objectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]