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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 2: Quantum and Classical Gravity 2

AGPhil 2.3: Vortrag

Montag, 18. März 2024, 12:45–13:15, PTB SR AvHB

The Cosmological Quantum Measurement Problem — •Charlotte Erika Zito — University of Geneva, Switzerland

Despite being enormously successful on the practical level, quantum mechanics (QM) still faces a lot of conceptual challenges. One of these is represented by the quantum measurement problem (QMP), that has as many formulations as solutions in the dedicated literature. Arguably though, the QMP has echoes beyond the framework of non-relativistic QM. There exists indeed a precise analogue of the QMP in the early universe cosmology: while geometric properties of large scales appear determinate, the more fundamental levels, and particularly those closer to the initial singularity, appear to be fully quantum.

Different cosmological models based on QG, from loop quantum cosmology to string cosmology, have been developed. Yet, the cosmological version of the QMP is rarely mentioned in the literature and even more rarely discussed. In this talk I will start to fill this gap by addressing the issue that concerns the formulation of the QMP in cosmology, which arguably will not focus on the role of an external observer. Rather, I will argue that the cosmological QMP coincides with the problem of spacetime emergence, that affects theories of QG, and discuss the challenges that the main interpretations of QM face in this context, paying particular attention to Everettian solutions.

Keywords: Cosmology; Quantum gravity; Early universe; Quantum measurement problem; Everett