Related papers: Possible physical universes
We define a universe as the contents of a spacetime box with comoving walls, large enough to contain essentially all phenomena that can be conceivably measured. The initial time is taken as the epoch when the lowest CMB modes undergo…
For a universe containing cosmological constant together with uniform arrangements of magnetic fields, strings, or domain walls, exact solutions to the Einstein equations are shown to lead to a universe with ellipsoidal expansion. The…
In a recent article, M. Tegmark poses the hypothesis that our known universe is a ``baggage free'' mathematical structure among many other possible ones, which also correspond to other physical universes --Mathematical Universe Hypothesis,…
Epistemic interpretations of quantum mechanics fail to address the puzzle posed by the occurrence of probabilities in a fundamental physical theory. This is a puzzle about the physical world, not a puzzle about our relation to the physical…
Multiverse scenarios in cosmology assume that other universes exist "beyond" our own universe. They are an exciting challenge both for empirical and theoretical research as well as for philosophy of science. They could be necessary to…
The multiverse view in set theory, introduced and argued for in this article, is the view that there are many distinct concepts of set, each instantiated in a corresponding set-theoretic universe. The universe view, in contrast, asserts…
Is the universe computable? If so, it may be much cheaper in terms of information requirements to compute all computable universes instead of just ours. I apply basic concepts of Kolmogorov complexity theory to the set of possible…
It is shown that if - and only if - ``parallel universes'' exist, an electroweak vacuum that is expected to have decayed since the big bang with a high probability might exist. It would neither necessarily render our existence unlikely nor…
Can multiverse hypotheses ever receive empirical support? Critics argue that multiverse scenarios posit unobservable entities, face severe underdetermination, or fall outside the bounds of science. This chapter challenges that view by…
I give a compact, pedagogical review of our present understanding of the universe as based on general relativity. This includes the uniform models, with special reference to the cosmological 'constant'; and the equations for…
The models of cyclic universes and cyclic multiverses based on the alternative gravity theories of varying constants are considered.
In this paper it is studied the cosmology of a homogeneous and isotropic spacetime endorsed with a conformally coupled massless scalar field. We find six different solutions of the Friedmann equation that represent six different types of…
Current thinking on the interpretation of quantum physics is reviewed, with special detail given to the Copenhagen and Everett many-worlds interpretations.
The physical processes that determine the properties of our everyday world, and of the wider cosmos, are determined by some key numbers: the 'constants' of micro-physics and the parameters that describe the expanding universe in which we…
Have you ever watched superhero movies like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse? Or played games where your choices create different outcomes? What if we told you that in the real world, something even crazier might be happening all the time,…
Evidence for fine-tuning of physical parameters suitable for life can perhaps be explained by almost any combination of providence, coincidence or multiverse. A multiverse usually includes parts unobservable to us, but if the theory for it…
We show that a number of problems of modern cosmology may be solved in the framework of multidimensional gravity with high-order curvature invariants, without invoking other fields. We use a method employing a slow-change approximation,…
The papers mentioned in the bibliography lead to this new hypothesis which constitutes a wide panorama of the physical reality. Its coherence and its simplicity are virtues that make interesant to gaze upon it.
Modern fundamental physics poses new questions for philosophy, which, as it seems to us, have not yet received appropriate attention from philosophers of science. This paper formulates a number of such questions in order to present them to…
To what extent can our limited set of observations be used to pin down the specifics of a ``Theory of Everything''? In the limit where the links are arbitrarily tenuous, a ``Theory of Everything'' might become a ``Theory of Anything''. A…