scholarly journals Future possible educational selves and the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics

Author(s):  
James Reveley
Author(s):  
Joaquin Trujillo

The articles provides a phenomenological reading of the Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics and its answer to the measurement problem, or the question of “why only one of a wave function’s probable values is observed when the system is measured.” Transcendental-phenomenological and hermeneutic-phenomenological approaches are employed. The project comprises four parts. Parts one and two review MWI and the standard (Copenhagen) interpretation of quantum mechanics. Part three reviews the phenomenologies. Part four deconstructs the hermeneutics of MWI. It agrees with the confidence the theory derives from its (1) unforgiving appropriation of the Schrödinger equation and (2) association of branching universes with the evolution of the wave function insofar as that understanding comes from the formalism itself. Part four also reveals the hermeneutical shortcomings of the standard interpretation.


2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (03n04) ◽  
pp. 611-615 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. P. SINGH

There are fundamental reasons why there should exist a reformulation of quantum mechanics which does not refer to a classical space–time manifold. It follows that quantum mechanics as we know it is a limiting case of a more general nonlinear quantum theory, with the nonlinearity becoming significant at the Planck mass/energy scale. This nonlinearity is responsible for a dynamically induced collapse of the wave function, during a quantum measurement, and it hence falsifies the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. We illustrate this conclusion using a mathematical model based on a generalized Doebner–Goldin equation. The non-Hermitian part of the Hamiltonian in this norm-preserving, nonlinear, Schrödinger equation dominates during a quantum measurement, and leads to a breakdown of linear superposition.


2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 1350068 ◽  
Author(s):  
ORFEU BERTOLAMI ◽  
VICTOR HERDEIRO

It has been recently proposed that the multiverse of eternal inflation, string landscape and the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics can be identified, yielding a new view on the measure and measurement problems. In the present note, we argue that a nonlinear evolution of observables in the quantum multiverse would be an obstacle for such a description and that these nonlinearities are expected from quite general arguments.


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