Incoherent? No, Just Decoherent: How Quantum Many Worlds Emerge
arXiv:2501.16020 · doi:10.1017/psa.2023.155
Abstract
The modern Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics describes an emergent multiverse. The goal of this paper is to provide a perspicuous characterisation of how the multiverse emerges making use of a recent account of (weak) ontological emergence. This will be cashed out with a case study that identifies decoherence as the mechanism for emergence. The greater metaphysical clarity enables the rebuttal of critiques due to Baker (2007) and Dawid and Thébault (2015) that cast the emergent multiverse ontology as incoherent; responses are also offered to challenges to the Everettian approach from Maudlin (2010) and Monton (2013).
arXiv comment22 pages, 1 figure
References in corpus (10)
- Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical
- Decoherence, Chaos, and the Second Law
- Quantum Decoherence
- Decoherence, Chaos, and the Correspondence Principle
- Decoherence, chaos, quantum-classical correspondence, and the algorithmic arrow of time
- Decoherent Histories and Hydrodynamic Equations
- The Quantum Mechanics of Hyperion
- Classicality, the ensemble interpretation, and decoherence: Resolving the Hyperion dispute
- On the Limits of Experimental Knowledge
- Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking in Finite Quantum Systems: a decoherent-histories approach