Universe superposition, relational quantum mechanics, and the reality of the no-collapse universe
| Abstract | A perspective on Everett's relative state formulation is proposed leading to a relational quantum mechanics. There are inevitably a large number of different versions of the universe in which a specific observer could exist, and in the universe of the unitary wave function they are all existing and coincident. If these different versions of the universe are superposed the result is a universe in which the superposition of all of the identical copies sums to a single observer. The effective universe in the functional frame of reference of this observer would be highly indeterminate but determinate where observed by this observer. This would naturally relativise the universe of the conventional view since each observer would inhabit an effective universe in which different aspects were determinate. Although the identity of the observer as a physical body does not readily fit this concept, it appears to apply inevitably to the functional identity of an observer as depicted by Everett. In this relational quantum mechanics a collapse dynamics applies only to the functional frame of reference of the observer and raises no incompatibility with the linear dynamics. | |||||||||
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Similar books and articlesHenry P. Stapp (2011). Mindful Universe: Quantum Mechanics and the Participating Observer. Springer-Verlag.
David Z. Albert (1988). On the Possibility That the Present Quantum State of the Universe is the Vacuum. PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1988:127 - 133.
Matthew J. Brown (2009). Relational Quantum Mechanics and the Determinacy Problem. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 60 (4):679-695.
Christoph Lehner (1997). What It Feels Like to Be in a Superposition. And Why. Synthese 110 (2):191-216.
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