多世界诠释
一种量子力学诠释
多世界诠释（英语：the many-worlds interpretation，缩写作 MWI）是量子力学诠释的一种。它是一个假定存在无数个平行世界并以此来解释一个微观世界的各种现象的量子论诠释，其优点是不必考虑波函数坍缩。该理论也被称为相对状态提法、艾弗雷特诠释、普遍的波函数、多宇宙诠释或多世界理论。
1957年，最初的相对状态提法由美国量子物理学家休·艾弗雷特三世发表[2][3]。后来在1960年代和1970年代，这一理论开始普及并由布莱斯·德维特更名为多世界理论[1][4][5][6] 。在多世界诠释中，波函数坍缩的主观现象可用量子退相干机制来解释。自1970年代以来，退相干方法在解释量子理论方面得到了进一步的探索和发展，[7][8][9]因而相当受欢迎。多世界诠释是物理学和哲学的众多平行宇宙假说之一。除了多世界诠释之外，目前主流的量子力学诠释还包括其它的退相干诠释、坍缩诠释（又分客观坍缩理论和传统的哥本哈根诠释）、隐变量理论（主要是非局域隐变量理论例如德布罗意-玻姆理论）等等。该诠释旨在解释测量问题，从而解决某些量子理论中的佯谬，如EPR佯谬[10]:462[11]:118和薛定谔猫佯谬[12]。
对共存状态崩溃的解释
当观测一个处于共存状态的量子时会引起这种共存状态的崩溃，从而使量子只显现粒子的性质[注 1]。多世界诠释认为观测时会分离出无数个平行宇宙，每一个宇宙都有一个确定的状态，而我们只是在其中的一个特定宇宙。
1957年，美国普林斯顿大学的休·艾弗雷特三世最早提出多世界理论[2][3]，他假设所有孤立系统的演化都遵循薛定谔方程，波函数不会崩坍，而量子的测量却只能得到一种结果，也就是说，量子处于叠加态。艾弗雷特认为测量仪器与被测系统的状态之间有某种关联，称之为相对态（relative state）。艾弗雷特语出惊人地表示，测量带来的不是坍缩，而是分裂（Splitting）的宇宙。宇宙诞生以来，已经进行过无数次这样的分裂。他说宇宙像一个阿米巴变形虫，当电子通过双缝后，这个虫子自我裂变，繁殖成为两个几乎一模一样的变形虫。唯一的不同是，一只虫子只记得电子从左而过，另一只虫子只记得电子从右而过。这样一来，薛定谔的猫再也不必为死活问题困扰，宇宙分裂成了两个，一个有活猫，一个有死猫[注 2]。他的导师惠勒意识到“分裂”（Splitting）这个用词的不妥，易产生误导，他在论文的空白里写道：“分裂？(分身)最好换个词。”
对于多世界诠释，物理学界的反应异常冷淡，1959年艾弗雷特飞去哥本哈根见到玻尔，尼尔斯·玻尔没有作任何评论。
爱因斯坦曾说：“我不能相信，仅仅是因为看了它一眼，一只老鼠就使得宇宙发生剧烈的改变。”[13]德克萨斯大学的布莱斯·德维特（Bryce S. DeWitt）表示：“我仍然清晰地记得，当我第一次遇到多世界概念时所受到的震动。100个略有缺陷的自我克隆，都在不停地分裂成进一步的克隆，而最后面目全非。这个想法是很难符合常识的。”
艾弗雷特心灰意冷，退出理论物理界，在美国五角大厦武器系统评估组的防御分析协会，主要研究核武与计算机。直至1960及1970年代，布莱斯·德维特重新提出多世界诠释[1]，它成为物理界热门的话题之一。
注释
参考文献
- ^ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Bryce Seligman DeWitt, Quantum Mechanics and Reality: Could the solution to the dilemma of indeterminism be a universe in which all possible outcomes of an experiment actually occur?, Physics Today, 23(9) pp 30-40 (September 1970) "every quantum transition taking place on every star, in every galaxy, in every remote corner of the universe is splitting our local world on earth into myriads of copies of itself." See also Physics Today, letters followup, 24(4), (April 1971), pp 38-44
- ^ 2.0 2.1 Hugh Everett Theory of the Universal Wavefunction （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）, Thesis, Princeton University, (1956, 1973), pp. 1–140
- ^ 3.0 3.1 Everett, Hugh. Relative State Formulation of Quantum Mechanics. Reviews of Modern Physics. 1957, 29: 454–462 [2012-07-16]. Bibcode:1957RvMP...29..454E. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.29.454. （原始内容存档于2011-10-27）.
- ^ Cecile M. DeWitt, John A. Wheeler eds, The Everett–Wheeler Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Battelle Rencontres: 1967 Lectures in Mathematics and Physics (1968)
- ^ Bryce Seligman DeWitt, The Many-Universes Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Proceedings of the International School of Physics "Enrico Fermi" Course IL: Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Academic Press (1972)
- ^ Bryce Seligman DeWitt, R. Neill Graham, eds, The Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Princeton Series in Physics, Princeton University Press (1973), ISBN 0-691-08131-X Contains Everett's thesis: The Theory of the Universal Wavefunction, pp 3–140.
- ^ H. Dieter Zeh, On the Interpretation of Measurement in Quantum Theory, Foundation of Physics, vol. 1, pp. 69–76, (1970).
- ^ Wojciech Hubert Zurek, Decoherence and the transition from quantum to classical, Physics Today, vol. 44, issue 10, pp. 36–44, (1991).
- ^ Wojciech Hubert Zurek, Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical, Reviews of Modern Physics, 75, pp. 715–775, (2003)
- ^ Everett, Hugh. Relative State Formulation of Quantum Mechanics. Reviews of Modern Physics. 1957, 29 (3): 454–462 [2011-10-24]. Bibcode:1957RvMP...29..454E. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.29.454. （原始内容存档于2011-10-27）.
- ^ Everett, Hugh; Wheeler, J. A.; DeWitt, B. S.; Cooper, L. N.; Van Vechten, D.; Graham, N. DeWitt, Bryce; Graham, R. Neill , 编. The Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. Princeton Series in Physics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 1973: v. ISBN 0-691-08131-X.
- ^ Bryce S. DeWitt. Quantum mechanics and reality. Physics Today. 1970, 23 (9): 30–35. Bibcode:1970PhT....23i..30D. doi:10.1063/1.3022331. See also Leslie E. Ballentine; Philip Pearle; Evan Harris Walker; Mendel Sachs; Toyoki Koga; Joseph Gerver; Bryce DeWitt. Quantum‐mechanics debate. Physics Today. 1971, 24 (4): 36–44. Bibcode:1971PhT....24d..36.. doi:10.1063/1.3022676.
- ^ Barbara A. Holmes, Race and the Cosmos: An Invitation to View the World Differently , P148.. [2023-08-09]. （原始内容存档于2023-08-18）.
延伸阅读
- Jeffrey A. Barrett, The Quantum Mechanics of Minds and Worlds, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1999.
- Peter Byrne, The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett III: Multiple Universes, Mutual Assured Destruction, and the Meltdown of a Nuclear Family, Oxford University Press, 2010.
- Jeffrey A. Barrett and Peter Byrne, eds., "The Everett Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: Collected Works 1955–1980 with Commentary", Princeton University Press, 2012.
- Julian Brown, Minds, Machines, and the Multiverse, Simon & Schuster, 2000, ISBN 0-684-81481-1
- Paul C.W. Davies, Other Worlds, (1980) ISBN 0-460-04400-1
- James P. Hogan, The Proteus Operation (science fiction involving the many-worlds interpretation, time travel and World War 2 history), Baen, Reissue edition (August 1, 1996) ISBN 0-671-87757-7
- Adrian Kent, One world versus many: the inadequacy of Everettian accounts of evolution, probability, and scientific confirmation（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）
- Andrei Linde and Vitaly Vanchurin, How Many Universes are in the Multiverse?（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）
- Osnaghi, Stefano; Freitas, Fabio; Olival Freire, Jr. The Origin of the Everettian Heresy (PDF). Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics. 2009, 40: 97–123 [2016-08-25]. doi:10.1016/j.shpsb.2008.10.002. （原始内容 (PDF)存档于2016-05-28）. A study of the painful three-way relationship between Hugh Everett, John A Wheeler and Niels Bohr and how this affected the early development of the many-worlds theory.
- Asher Peres, Quantum Theory: Concepts and Methods, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1993.
- Mark A. Rubin, Locality in the Everett Interpretation of Heisenberg-Picture Quantum Mechanics, Foundations of Physics Letters, 14, (2001), pp. 301–322,
- David Wallace, Harvey R. Brown, Solving the measurement problem: de Broglie–Bohm loses out to Everett, Foundations of Physics,
- David Wallace, Worlds in the Everett Interpretation, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 33, (2002), pp. 637–661,
- John A. Wheeler and Wojciech Hubert Zurek (eds), Quantum Theory and Measurement, Princeton University Press, (1983), ISBN 0-691-08316-9
- Sean M. Carroll, Charles T. Sebens, Many Worlds, the Born Rule, and Self-Locating Uncertainty,
参见
外部链接
Many-worlds interpretation在维基百科的姊妹项目
- Everett's Relative-State Formulation of Quantum Mechanics（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） - Jeffrey A. Barrett's article on Everett's formulation of quantum mechanics in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） - Lev Vaidman's article on the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Hugh Everett III Manuscript Archive (UC Irvine)（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） - Jeffrey A. Barrett, Peter Byrne, and James O. Weatherall (eds.).
- Michael C Price's Everett FAQ（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） -- a clear FAQ-style presentation of the theory.
- The Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） - a description for the lay reader with links.
- Against Many-Worlds Interpretations by Adrian Kent（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）
- Many-Worlds is a "lost cause" according to R. F. Streater
- The many worlds of quantum mechanics（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） John Sankey
- Max Tegmark's web page（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）
- Henry Stapp's critique of MWI, focusing on the basis problem（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） Canadian J. Phys. 80,1043–1052 (2002).