Observations of wavefunction collapse and the retrospective application of the Born rule
arXiv:2010.15101
Abstract
In this paper I present a thought experiment that gives different results depending on whether or not the wavefunction collapses. Since the wavefunction does not obey the Schrodinger equation during the collapse, conservation laws are violated. This is the reason why the results are different. Quantities that are conserved if the wavefunction does not collapse might change if it does. I also show that using the Born Rule to derive probabilities of states before a measurement given the state after it (rather than the other way round as it is usually used) leads to the conclusion that the memories that an observer has about making measurements of quantum systems have a significant probability of being false memories.
arXiv comment12 pages
References in corpus (9)
- Quantum Theory of Probability and Decisions
- Probabilities from Entanglement, Born's Rule from Envariance
- Boltzmann brains and the scale-factor cutoff measure of the multiverse
- Stationary Measure in the Multiverse
- Does it Make Sense to Speak of Self-Locating Uncertainty in the Universal Wave Function? Remarks on Sebens and Carroll
- Decoherence Functional and Probability Interpretation
- Observing The Observer
- Can the Higgs Boson Save Us From the Menace of the Boltzmann Brains?
- Observing The Observer II: Can I know I am in a superposition and still be in a superposition?