Related papers: Boltzmann Brains--I'd Rather See Than Be One
The main consequences of de Sitter Special Relativity to the Standard Cosmological Model of Physical Cosmology are examined. The cosmological constant Lambda appears, in this theory, as a manifestation of the proper conformal current, which…
A gravitationally collapsed object can bounce-out from its horizon via a tunnelling process that violates the classical equations in a finite region. Since tunnelling is a non-perturbative phenomenon, it cannot be described in terms of…
We consider the holographic Friedman-Robertson-Walker (hFRW) universe on the 4-dimensional membrane embedded in the 5-dimensional bulk spacetime and fit the parameters with the observational data. In order to fully account for the…
The paradox of Wigner's friend challenges the objectivity of description in quantum theory. A pragmatist interpretation can meet this challenge by judicious appeal to decoherence. On this interpretation, quantum theory provides situated…
We propose a novel quantum model for the restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM), in which the visible units remain classical whereas the hidden units are quantized as noninteracting fermions. The free motion of the fermions is parametrically…
In this work we consider the spontaneous symmetry breaking of the electroweak $SU(2)_L\times U(1)_Y$ gauge group into $U(1)_{em}$ taken place in the Standard Model of particle physics as seen from the point of view of an accelerating…
Recent late-Universe observations suggest an open Universe. If confirmed, such a departure from spatial flatness would carry profound implications for our understanding of cosmic inflation and the ultimate fate of the Universe. Motivated by…
In this paper we extend recent ideas about observers and closed universes to theories where observers can be fluctuated into existence in the Hartle-Hawking state. This introduces a phenomenon that was not considered in these earlier…
After commenting briefly on the role of the typicality assumption in science, we advocate a phenomenological approach to the cosmological measure problem. Like any other theory, a measure should be simple, general, well-defined, and…
Big Bang models of the Universe predict rapid domination by curvature, a paradox known as the flatness problem. Solutions to this problem usually leave the Universe exactly flat for every practical purpose. Explaining a nearly but not…
We propose a scheme involving cold atoms trapped in optical lattices to observe different phenomena traditionally linked to quantum-optical systems. The basic idea consists of connecting the trapped atomic state to a non-trapped state…
I explore the possibility that the cosmos is fundamentally an equilibrium system, and review the attractive features of such theories. Equilibrium cosmologies are commonly thought to fail due to the ``Boltzmann Brain'' problem. I show that…
We consider the evolution of a closed Friedmann brane irradiated by a bulk black hole. Both absorption on the brane and transmission across the brane are allowed, the latter representing a generalization over a previously studied model.…
We analyze cosmology assuming unitary quantum mechanics, using a tripartite partition into system, observer and environment degrees of freedom. This generalizes the second law of thermodynamics to "The system's entropy can't decrease unless…
We construct algebras of diff-invariant observables in a global de Sitter universe with two observers and a free scalar QFT in two dimensions. We work in the strict $G_N \rightarrow 0$ limit, but allow the observers to have an order one…
We study a particle immersed in a heat bath, in the presence of an external force which decays at least as rapidly as $1/x$, for example a particle interacting with a surface through a Lennard-Jones or a logarithmic potential. As time…
One of the fundamental problems in quantum gravity is to describe the experience of a gravitating observer in generic spacetimes. In this paper, we develop a framework for describing non-perturbative physics relative to an observer using…
We discuss possible observational manifestations of static, spherically symmetric solutions of a class of multidimensional theories of gravity, which includes the low energy limits of supergravities and superstring theories as special…
In a time dependent background like de Sitter space, Feynman-Dyson perturbation theory breaks down due to infra-red divergences. We investigate an interacting scalar field theory in Schwinger-Keldysh formalism. We derive a Boltzmann…
A single mechanism, endemic to the standard model of physics, is proposed to explain wavefunction collapse, classical motion, dissipation, equilibration, and the transition from pure quantum mechanics through open system decoherence to the…