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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 3: Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: The Measurement Problem and the Many Worlds Interpretation

AGPhil 3.1: Hauptvortrag

Dienstag, 11. März 2025, 11:00–11:45, HS XVII

Is there a mechanism that produces many parallel worlds? — •Meinard Kuhlmann — Philosophy Department, University of Mainz

My question is whether the emergence of many parallel worlds in the (contemporary) Everettian solution to the quantum measurement problem can be understood in a mechanistic fashion. I will conclude with a clear "Yes!". One crucial element in my argument will be quantum decoherence, a process that partly explains why our world appears so very classical, and which rescues the original many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics from one fatal objection. However, while my positive answer may first sound like untarnished good news for the mechanistically inclined lover of parallel worlds, it comes with a grain of salt: It is a proper physical mechanism that produces parallel worlds, but due to the nature of this mechanism, these worlds are not quite what one may hope for.

Keywords: many worlds interpretation; quantum measurement problem; decoherence; mechanisms