Published February 1, 2011 | Version v1
Journal article

Rescuing the Born rule for quantum cosmology

  • 1. Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616 (United States)

Description

Page has recently argued that the Born rule does not suffice for computing all probabilities in quantum cosmology. He further asserts that the Born rule's failure gives rise to the cosmological measure problem. Here I contend that Page's result stems from his use of an overly restrictive definition of the Born rule. In particular, I demonstrate that all of the probabilities he wishes to compute follow from the Born rule when generalized measurements are permitted. I also register two comments on Page's theoretical setting, relating respectively to Hilbert space dimensionality and permutation symmetry. These considerations lead me to conclude that the claimed insufficiency of the Born rule is by no means specific to the cosmological context

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2011/02/014

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Journal Volume
2011
Journal Issue
02
Journal Page Range
p. 014
ISSN
1475-7516

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
45096646
Subject category
S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
Descriptors DEI
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS; HILBERT SPACE; PROBABILITY; QUANTUM COSMOLOGY; SYMMETRY
Descriptors DEC
BANACH SPACE; COSMOLOGY; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; MATHEMATICAL SPACE; SPACE