Multiverse Model

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: November 13, 2008 6:50:02 PM EST
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Multiverse Model

[Note:  This item comes from reader Randall.  DLH]

From: Randall Webmail <rvh40 () insightbb com>
Date: November 13, 2008 2:43:54 PM PST
To: johnmacsgroup () yahoogroups com, dewayne () warpspeed com
Cc: jess () jick net
Subject: Multiverse Model

<http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/11/parallel-univer.html?1>

November 13, 2008

Parallel Universes: Are They More than a Figment of Our Imagination?

"The multiverse is no longer a model, it is a consequence of our  
models.”

~Aurelien Barrau, particle physicist at CERN

The Hollywood blockbuster, The Golden Compass, adapted from the first  
volume
of Pullman's classic sci-fi trilogy, "His Dark Materials" portrays  
various
universes as only one reality among many, but how realistic is this  
kind of
classic sci-fi plot? While it hasn’t been proven yet, many highly  
respected
and credible scientists are now saying there’s reason to believe that
parallel dimensions could very well be more than figments of our
imaginations.

"The idea of multiple universes is more than a fantastic invention—it  
appears
naturally within several scientific theories, and deserves to be taken
seriously," stated Aurelien Barrau, a French particle physicist at the
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

There are a variety of competing theories based on the idea of parallel
universes, but the most basic idea is that if the universe is  
infinite, then
everything that could possibly occur has happened, is happening, or will
happen.

According to quantum mechanics, nothing at the subatomic scale can  
really be
said to exist until it is observed. Until then, particles occupy  
uncertain
"superposition" states, in which they can have simultaneous "up" and  
"down"
spins, or appear to be in different places at the same time. The mere  
act of
observing somehow appears to "nail down" a particular state of reality.
Scientists don’t yet have a perfect explanation for how it occurs, but  
that
hasn’t changed the fact that the phenomenon does occur.

Unobserved particles are described by "wave functions" representing a  
set of
multiple "probable" states. When an observer makes a measurement, the
particle then settles down into one of these multiple options, which is
somewhat how the multiple universe theory can be explained.

The existence of such a parallel universe "does not even assume  
speculative
modern physics, merely that space is infinite and rather uniformly  
filled
with matter as indicated by recent astronomical observations," Max  
Tegmark, a
cosmologist at MIT in Boston, Massachusetts concluded in a study of  
parallel
universes published by Cambridge University.

Mathematician Hugh Everett published landmark paper in 1957 while  
still a
graduate student at Princeton University. In this paper he showed how  
quantum
theory predicts that a single classical reality will gradually split  
into
separate, but simultaneously existing realms.

"This is simply a way of trusting strictly the fundamental equations of
quantum mechanics," says Barrau. "The worlds are not spatially  
separated, but
exist as kinds of 'parallel' universes."

Partly because the idea is so uncomfortably strange, it’s dismissed as  
sci-fi
by many critics. But there are also many credible, respected  
proponents of
the theory—a group that is continuously gaining new adherents as new  
research
unveils new evidence. Some Oxford research—for the first time—recently  
found
a mathematical answer that sweeps away one of the key objections to the
controversial idea. Their research shows that Everett was indeed on  
the right
track when he came up with his multiverse theory. The Oxford team, led  
by Dr
David Deutsch, showed mathematically that the bush-like branching  
structure
created by the universe splitting into parallel versions of itself can
explain the probabilistic nature of quantum outcomes.

The work has another strange implication. The idea of parallel universes
would apparently side-step one of the key complaints with time travel.  
Every
since it was given serious credibility in 1949 by the great logician  
Kurt
Godel, many eminent physicists have argued against time travel because  
it
undermines ideas of cause and effect. An example would be the famous
“grandfather paradox” where a time traveler goes back to kill his  
grandfather
so that he is never born in the first place.

But if parallel worlds do exist, there is a way around these troublesome
paradoxes. Deutsch argues that time travel shifts happen between  
different
branches of reality. The mathematical breakthrough bolsters his claim  
that
quantum theory does not forbid time travel. "It does sidestep it. You  
go into
another universe," he said. But he admits that there will be a lot of  
work to
do before we can manipulate space-time in a way that makes “hops”  
possible.
While it may sound fanciful, Deutsch says that scientific research is
continually making the theory more believable.

"Many sci-fi authors suggested time travel paradoxes would be solved by
parallel universes but in my work, that conclusion is deduced from  
quantum
theory itself."

The borderline between physics and metaphysics is not defined by  
whether an
entity can be observed, but whether it is testable, insists Tegmark.

He points to phenomena such as black holes, curved space, the slowing  
of time
at high speeds, even a round Earth, which were all once rejected as
scientific heresy before being proven through experimentation, even  
though
some remain beyond the grasp of observation. It is likely, Tegmark  
concludes
that multiverse models grounded in modern physics will eventually be
empirically testable, predictive and disprovable.

Posted by Rebecca Sato

Related Galaxy posts:

New Proof from Oxford: Parallel Universes Exist

Cosmic Pentimento: Beyond the Great Void May be a Great Something

Weird Science: Can Time Move Backwards?

links:

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/09/n--one-of-the-m.html

http://physorg.com/news118241154.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/09/21/sciuni121.xml

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=paUniverse_sun14_parallel_universes&show_article=1&cat=0RSS 
 Feed: <http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress>




-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com