New quantum mechanics theory says parallel universes exist, interact
Posted on November 4th, 2014
Courtesy RT
Prof. Howard Wiseman, a physicist at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, along with his collaborators Dr. Michael Hall, also of Griffith University, and University of California, Davis mathematician Dr. Dirk-Andre Deckert, published their new “many interacting worlds” (MIW) theory in the journal Physical Review X. They posited that other universes are real, exist in vast numbers and exert influence on each other.
The idea of parallel universes in quantum mechanics has been around since 1957,” Wiseman said in a statement. In the well-known ‘Many-Worlds Interpretation’, each universe branches into a bunch of new universes every time a quantum measurement is made. All possibilities are therefore realised – in some universes the dinosaur-killing asteroid missed Earth. In others, Australia was colonised by the Portuguese.”
But critics question the reality of these other universes, since they do not influence our universe at all,” he added. On this score, our Many Interacting Worlds” approach is completely different, as its name implies.”
There are three main points to the MIW theory, according to the Griffith statement. First, that the universe we live in is just one of an unknowngigantic” number of worlds, some of which arealmost identical to ours,” but most are very different.” Second, all of the worlds are equally real,” existing continuously through time with precisely defined properties.Third, quantum phenomena arise from a universal force of repulsion between ‘nearby’ (i.e. similar) worlds, which tends to make them more dissimilar.”
All quantum effects arise from, and only from, the interaction between worlds, the physicists explained in their abstract.
Hall said the radical new theory may even create the extraordinary possibility of testing for the existence of other worlds.
The beauty of our approach is that if there is just one world our theory reduces to Newtonian mechanics, while if there is a gigantic number of worlds it reproduces quantum mechanics,” he said in the statement. In between it predicts something new that is neither Newton’s theory nor quantum theory. We also believe that, in providing a new mental picture of quantum effects, it will be useful in planning experiments to test and exploit quantum phenomena.”
American theoretical physicist Richard Feynman once noted: I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.” And the MIW group admits that their theory is a bit out there.
“Any explanation of quantum phenomena is going to be weird, and standard quantum mechanics does not really offer any explanation at all ‒ it just makes predictions for laboratory experiments,” Wiseman told the Huffington Post in an email. “Our new explanation… is that there are ordinary [non-quantum] parallel worlds which interact in a particular and subtle way.”
Motherboard asked if the theory suggests that humans might someday be able to interact with other universes.
“It’s not part of our theory,” Wiseman replied. “But the idea of [human] interactions with other universes is no longer pure fantasy.”
Others in the quantum mechanics field ranged from skepticism to excitement, Huffington Post reported, noting there is no consensus on whether many interacting worlds” exist or interact.
“There are some who are completely happy with their own interpretations of QM, and we are unlikely to change their minds,” Wiseman said in his email. “But I think there are many who are not happy with any of the current interpretations, and it is those who will probably be most interested in ours. I hope some will be interested enough to start working on it soon, because there are so many questions to answer.”
November 4th, 2014 at 3:40 pm
Noble Prize winning physicist Werner Heisenberg said “The atoms or elementary particles themselves are not real; they form a world of potentialities or possibilities rather than one of things or facts”. According to the quantum theory, the particles that are the very building blocks of all things are in all possible places until observation causes them to choose a specific position. Ie there is a wave of possibilities and probabilities and quantum physicists call mathematics of this wave, the wave function and when we observe it, the collapse of the wave function puts the object into a specific position and while observing it behaves as a particle. So we live in a very unrealistic Holographic Universe. That is exactly what Buddha said about “Anithya” or “ANICCA” impermanency of things. Sabbe sankhara anicca -All formations are impermanent.
November 5th, 2014 at 2:15 pm
Knowledge continues to evolve. Our understanding of worldly phenomena goes on changing with the time. I give below the understanding of the world as recently as 17th century and how Galileo tried to correct it and got himself house arrested. Fortunately we live in a better world today. This is from Wikipedia:
Controversy over heliocentrism:
“In the Catholic world prior to Galileo’s conflict with the Church, the majority of educated people subscribed to the Aristotelian geocentric view that the earth was the center of the universe and that all heavenly bodies revolved around the Earth,[53] despite the use of Copernican theories to reform the calendar in 1582.[54] Biblical references Psalm 93:1, 96:10, and 1 Chronicles 16:30 include text stating that “the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved.” In the same manner, Psalm 104:5 says, “the Lord set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.” Further, Ecclesiastes 1:5 states that “And the sun rises and sets and returns to its place.”[55]
Galileo defended heliocentrism, and in his Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina argued that it was not contrary to biblical texts. He took the Augustinian position that poetry, songs, instructions or historical statements in biblical texts need not always be interpreted literally. Galileo argued that the authors wrote from the perspective of the terrestrial world in which the sun does rise and set, and discussed a different kind of “movement” of the earth, not rotations.”
Fortunately too, Buddha did not go in to the nature of the universe in detail, according to my understanding.