Typical Quantum States of the Universe are Observationally Indistinguishable

Abstract

This paper is about the epistemology of quantum theory. We establish a new result about a limitation to knowledge of its central object---the quantum state of the universe. We show that, if the universal quantum state can be assumed to be a typical unit vector from a high-dimensional subspace of Hilbert space (such as the subspace defined by a low-entropy macro-state as prescribed by the Past Hypothesis), then no observation can determine (or even just narrow down significantly) which vector it is. Typical state vectors, in other words, are observationally indistinguishable from each other. Our argument is based on a typicality theorem from quantum statistical mechanics. We also discuss how theoretical considerations that go beyond the empirical evidence might bear on this fact and on our knowledge of the universal quantum state.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

  • Only published works are available at libraries.

Analytics

Added to PP
2024-10-22

Downloads
300 (#95,489)

6 months
300 (#7,838)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Eddy Keming Chen
University of California, San Diego

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Time and Chance.David Z. Albert - 2000 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
The World in the Wave Function: A Metaphysics for Quantum Physics.Alyssa Ney - 2021 - New York, NY, USA: Oxford University Press.
Quantum Mechanics in a Time-Asymmetric Universe: On the Nature of the Initial Quantum State.Eddy Keming Chen - 2021 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 72 (4):1155–1183.
Realism about the wave function.Eddy Keming Chen - 2019 - Philosophy Compass 14 (7):e12611.
Elementary Quantum Metaphysics.David Albert - 1996 - In James T. Cushing, Arthur Fine & Sheldon Goldstein, Bohmian mechanics and quantum theory: an appraisal. Springer. pp. 277-284.

View all 20 references / Add more references