© William Houghton, William Houghton Photography
Sometimes it's worth stopping for a moment and appreciating the many slightly different versions of you that exist in parallel realities. It is these alternate selves that help keep the universe in balance.
At least, that's what's happening if you happen to agree with the many-worlds interpretation of quantum theory. The idea, first proposed more than 65 years ago, is that reality is constantly branching into parallel paths due to subtle interactions at the level of quantum particles. It may be confusing, but it also smoothes over some devilishly tricky problems in physics, which is why many clear-headed physicists believe it to be true. Masu.
But now, thanks to physicists Sandu Popescu and Daniel Collins from the University of Bristol, this strange idea may be facing a major challenge. They initially aimed to solve a century-old puzzle in quantum theory, but ended up undermining the concept of parallel universes. “We essentially destroyed one of the arguments against it,” Collins says.
While this may sound like a destabilizing development, it may actually be a blow to quantum theory. Already, Popescu and Collins' work has helped resolve other long-standing quantum paradoxes and, in the eyes of some theorists, opens up a new view of the universe as a single quantum reality constructed from the inside out. It shows a way of thinking. “This is something deep and new. I think it could be very important,” says researcher Nicholas Gysin…
Source: www.newscientist.com
