Parallel universes exist - study
Sep 23 10:33 PM US/Eastern
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Parallel universes really do exist, according to a mathematical discovery
by Oxford scientists described by one expert as "one of the most important
developments in the history of science".
The parallel universe theory, first proposed in 1950 by the US physicist
Hugh Everett, helps explain mysteries of quantum mechanics that have baffled
scientists for decades, it is claimed.
In Everett's "many worlds" universe, every time a new physical
possibility is explored, the universe splits. Given a number of possible
alternative outcomes, each one is played out - in its own universe.
A motorist who has a near miss, for instance, might feel relieved at his
lucky escape. But in a parallel universe, another version of the same driver
will have been killed. Yet another universe will see the motorist recover after
treatment in hospital. The number of alternative scenarios is endless.
It is a bizarre idea which has been dismissed as fanciful by many
experts. But the new research from Oxford shows that it offers a mathematical
answer to quantum conundrums that cannot be dismissed lightly - and suggests
that Dr Everett, who was a Phd student at Princeton University when he came up
with the theory, was on the right track.
Commenting in New Scientist magazine, Dr Andy Albrecht, a physicist at
the University of California at Davis, said: "This work will go down as one of
the most important developments in the history of science."
According to quantum mechanics, nothing at the subatomic scale can really
be said to exist until it is observed. Until then, particles occupy nebulous
"superposition" states, in which they can have simultaneous "up" and "down"
spins, or appear to be in different places at the same time.
Observation appears to "nail down" a particular state of reality, in the
same way as a spinning coin can only be said to be in a "heads" or "tails"
state once it is caught.
According to quantum mechanics, unobserved particles are described by
"wave functions" representing a set of multiple "probable" states. When an
observer makes a measurement, the particle then settles down into one of these
multiple options.
The Oxford team, led by Dr David Deutsch, showed mathematically that the
bush-like branching structure created by the universe splitting into parallel
versions of itself can explain the probabilistic nature of quantum outcomes.
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