Introduction
The multiverse idea states that there are an arbitrarily large number of Universes like our own out... [+] It's possible, but not necessary, for other pockets within the Multiverse to exist where the laws of physics are different. Let's us understand in detail what actually is mutiverse and many world theory.
The Many World Theory
Schrodinger's cat let the human imagination fly and rightly so, for it led to many interpretations. One can interpret that the cat is both dead and alive at the same time and living possibly in two different worlds. It is dead in one and alive in another planet. Over 50 years ago, Hugh Everett (1930-1982), an American physicist, precisely proposed this idea of many worlds for the first time. He devised the 'many-worlds' interpretation of QM, supported by consistent mathematical work. Everett used his mathematical brilliance to dazzle the scientific community, including great likes of Neil Bohr. As an extension of the strange nature of particles in the microscopic world, he derived that quantum effects spawn countless branches in the universe with different events occurring in each. This theory sounds bizarre and created enough controversy with the scientists of the time dismissing it right away. But the 'many-worlds' theory holds ground to this day with no mathematical flaws. Many science fiction authors have exploited this idea.
The central problem in Quantum Mechanics is that of measurement. As we saw earlier, the Uncertainty Principle does not permit us to measure accurately the speed and position of sub-atomic particles. Everett, at a young age, boldly resolved the infamous measurement problem in the microscopic world, that had bedeviled physicists for a long time. In the quantum world, elementary particles exist in superposition of two or more states. An electron can exist in several positions and speeds at the same time and when measurement is attempted, scientists see only one of the superposed states as definite and not the combination of all states. The question that troubled Everett was: Why does our classical world emerge in only one state from the multiplicity of several superposed states? Everett introduced the concept of Universal wave function to address the question about what happens if the wave function is not interrupted by an act of measurement or observation. He considered both the wave function and its observer as part of the same reality. To give you an analogy, suppose that a team of five people are blindfolded and asked to touch a leaf (say that of a lime tree), and guess which tree the leaf belongs to. Each one, after touching the leaf comes up with his/her own unique answer and thinks that to be the reality. Assuming that all five people give different answers, we now have five realities. In exactly the same way, Everett theorized that the observer and his/her measurement of the wave function, brings it to only one of several realities. The observer is locked with only one of many realities. What about the other possible realities?
Copenhagen's interpretation in the cat experiment told us that the cat is both dead and alive at the same time, until we observe it to find out. Once we observe it, the cat's wave function collapses randomly to one of the two states, either dead or alive, but until that time, it exists in both dead and live states. This interpretation of Quantum Mechanics did not explain why such a collapse happens. It was only added as one of the postulates.
On the other hand, Everett's revolutionary interpretation was that when we measure the wave function of a cat (which is both alive and dead at the same time in a superposed state), we measure only one of the two realities, either dead or alive. If we observe and collapse the cat in its dead state, someone else would have collapsed it in its living state. Thus, we end up with two worlds for the cat, one in which it is dead and another where it is alive. This 'many-worlds' interpretation of Everett's jolted stalwarts and founders of Quantum Mechanics, notably, Neil Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and John von Neumann, who were never comfortable with the idea and rejected it right away. Many even termed this idea as part of theology and not to be considered fit for scientific scrutiny. Everett, who created the ' many-worlds' theory as part of his doctoral dissertation as a young student at Princeton University in the mid-1950s, did not find many takers and got dejected. He turned to other interests in his short life before dying suddenly at the age of 51.
Conclusion
Many-worlds' theory says that there are perhaps an infinite The ' number of worlds out there and we exist in all of them in different states. All the things that could have possibly happened in our lives but did not, have actually happened in the past in other universes. So, no regrets!When astronomers peer into the universe, they see up to a distance of about 46 billion light years away. This is the farthest that we can see as of today. This is the horizon of our cosmic universe but it cannot be said with certainty that our universe ends here. It is estimated that our universe may be infinitely bigger beyond the visible edge of our universe. Scientists speculate further that there may be infinite number of universes -a system of multi-verses, where each universe is like a bubble with its own laws of physics. Aliens from other universes may not be able to live or speak with us due their nature of existence.
0 Comments