Recent content by helenk

Thanks for your replies. I was thinking of doing this next year, I know I'm too late for this one! Also, does anyone know if funded PhDs almost always start in Oct or are there some that start at other times during the year? I haven't found any in my own research :)

I do not really mind, it is all interesting, but I do like the projects I've seen regarding exoplanets.

Thanks for your reply, this is good to know

Hi, I have a 2.1 in BSc Astronomy and Philosophy and would like to do a PhD in Astrophysics. I am from the UK and my main concern is that the course would be fully funded. Does anyone know if I would be likely to get in/receive funding with only a 2.1 BSc, and if so, where would you recommend I...

Is the preferred basis problem only a problem for mixed states? Is Everett referring to a pure state and claiming we are unaware of other worlds due to the linearity of the waveequation, something which is not relevant to a mixed state?

How can the Planck length and the speed of light both be universal constants? Will the Planck length change depending on your frame of reference? :)

You might want to read; http://bjps.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/57/4/655" Abstract I consider exactly what is involved in a solution to the probability problem of the Everett interpretation, in the light of recent work on applying considerations from decision theory to...

This is all making a bit more sense now, I will have to keep thinking about it. thanks for trying to help :)

You guys might be interested in some info on the many minds approach (essentially MWI) here: http://thestargarden.co.uk/The%20Everett%20Approach.html" http://thestargarden.co.uk/What%20happens%20when%20the%20world%20splits.html" http://thestargarden.co.uk/What%20are%20probabilities.html"...

I have some more questions if that is OK, here goes; It is my understanding that a Schrödinger’s cat is in a superposition of all possible states and this means all possible combinations of its subatomic parts, not just alive and dead. I am starting to understand that decoherence somehow...

Thanks for your reply. Do you mean all cases where a basis is defined? (because of decoherence it is all cases but without it none at all)? Was Everett assuming then that there would be a way to define the basis which he was unaware of? (I thought, he thought, that in the case of a simple...

Everett stated; “all the separate elements of a superposition individually obey the wave equation with complete indifference to the presence or absence ("actuality" or not) of any other elements. This total lack of effect of one branch on another also implies that no observer will ever be aware...

OK, so am I right in saying that Everett did not explain why we are only aware of one world? Because that seems like a very big problem to me and without any suggestion of a resolution doesn't his theory create more problems than it solves (or at least as many)? (I will have to find that quote...

Thanks for your reply, I am reading about decoherence but struggling since I didn’t/don’t know what a basis is. So it does not refer to picking either position or momentum but picking position in relation to another position. Is this right? (ie picking spin in relation to an axis rather than...

Could someone please tell me what the preferred basis problem is with regards to the Everett/many worlds interpretation? As I understand it, it refers to the basis which is needed to make macroscopic objects determinate in all worlds. But what does this mean? Does basis refer to an observable...