Research Article Open Access

On the Verification of the Multiverse

Thomas Stenersen1
  • 1 Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Norway

Abstract

The interpretation of measurements in quantum mechanics has been disputed for over a century. The scope of this study is to find an experimental test of Everett’s many-worlds interpretation that could potentially verify the existence of a multiverse. Our proposal is based on a quantum field theory formulation of the many-worlds interpretation through the path integral formalism and a careful choice of the vacuum state. By generalizing the earlier quantum suicide thought experiment to quantum field theory, we find that the many-worlds interpretation implies a measurable change in the lifetime of elementary particles.

References

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Page, D. N. (2005). The lifetime of the universe. Journal of the Korean Physical Society, 49(2006), 711–714. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.hep-th/0510003
Schrödinger, E. (1935). Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik. Naturwissenschaften, 23(50), 844–849. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01491987
Schwartz, M. D. (2014). Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model. Cambridge University Press.
Tegmark, M. (1998). The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: Many Worlds or Many Words? Fortschritte Der Physik, 46(6–8), 855–862. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1521-3978(199811)46:6/8<855::AID-PROP855>3.0.CO;2-Q

Physics International
Volume 13 No. 1, 2022, 17-20

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3844/pisp.2022.17.20

Submitted On: 11 October 2022 Published On: 29 November 2022

How to Cite: Stenersen, T. (2022). On the Verification of the Multiverse. Physics International, 13(1), 17-20. https://doi.org/10.3844/pisp.2022.17.20

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Keywords

  • Quantum Physics
  • Many-Worlds Interpretation
  • Path Integral