Chua, Eugene Y. S. and Chen, Eddy Keming (2023) Decoherence, Branching, and the Born Rule in a Mixed-State Everettian Multiverse. [Preprint]

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Abstract

In Everettian quantum mechanics, justifications for the Born rule appeal to self-locating uncertainty or decision theory. Such justifications have focused exclusively on a pure-state Everettian multiverse, represented by a wave function. Recent works in quantum foundations suggest that it is viable to consider a mixed-state Everettian multiverse, represented by a (mixed-state) density matrix. Here, we develop the conceptual foundations for decoherence and branching in a mixed-state multiverse, and extend the standard Everettian justifications for the Born rule to this setting. This extended framework provides a unification of 'classical' and 'quantum' probabilities, and additional theoretical benefits, for the Everettian picture.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Chua, Eugene Y. S. eychua@ucsd.edu 0000-0002-3169-7563 Chen, Eddy Keming eddykemingchen@ucsd.edu 0000-0001-5144-0952
Keywords:	density matrix, probability, self-location, decision theory, unification, empirical equivalence, many worlds
Subjects:	General Issues > Decision Theory Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics
Depositing User:	Dr. Eddy Keming Chen
Date Deposited:	25 Jul 2023 14:30
Last Modified:	25 Jul 2023 14:30
Item ID:	22335
Subjects:	General Issues > Decision Theory Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics
Date:	24 July 2023
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/22335

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