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Many Worlds, the Born Rule, and Self-Locating Uncertainty

Carroll, Sean M. and Sebens, Charles T. (2014) Many Worlds, the Born Rule, and Self-Locating Uncertainty. In: Quantum Theory: A Two-Time Success Story. Springer , Milan, pp. 157-169. ISBN 978-88-470-5216-1. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20141216-203110170

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Abstract

We provide a derivation of the Born Rule in the context of the Everett (Many-Worlds) approach to quantum mechanics. Our argument is based on the idea of self-locating uncertainty: in the period between the wave function branching via decoherence and an observer registering the outcome of the measurement, that observer can know the state of the universe precisely without knowing which branch they are on. We show that there is a uniquely rational way to apportion credence in such cases, which leads directly to the Born Rule. [Editors note: for a video of the talk given by Prof. Carroll at the Aharonov-80 conference in 2012 at Chapman University, see quantum.chapman.edu/talk-14.]


Item Type:Book Section
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-5217-8_10DOIArticle
http://arxiv.org/abs/1405.7907arXivDiscussion Paper
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Carroll, Sean M.0000-0002-4226-5758
Additional Information:© 2014 Springer-Verlag Italia. A version of this paper appears as a chapter in Quantum Theory: A Two-Time Success Story, Yakir Aharonov Festschrift (2013), D.C. Struppa, J.M. Tollaksen, eds. (Springer-Verlag), p. 157. This work is a summary of a more comprehensive paper [1]. Section 6 did not appear in the original published version. Sean Carroll feels that it has been an honor and a pleasure to take part in the celebration of Yakir Aharonov’s 80th birthday and would like to thank Jeff Tollaksen and the organizers of a very stimulating meeting. His work was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Charles Sebens’s work was supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE 0718128.
Group:Moore Center for Theoretical Cosmology and Physics, Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
Department of Energy (DOE)UNSPECIFIED
NSFUNSPECIFIED
Gordon and Betty Moore FoundationUNSPECIFIED
NSF Graduate Research FellowshipDGE-0718128
Subject Keywords:Wave Function; Hilbert Space; Quantum Mechanic; Unitary Transformation; Unitary Evolution
Other Numbering System:
Other Numbering System NameOther Numbering System ID
CALT68-2929
DOI:10.1007/978-88-470-5217-8_10
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20141216-203110170
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20141216-203110170
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:52923
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Joy Painter
Deposited On:17 Dec 2014 17:18
Last Modified:10 Nov 2021 19:45

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