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name123
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- TL;DR Summary
- How does conservation of energy work in Everett's MWI
The question seems similar to the one asked here,
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/energy-in-everetts-many-worlds-interpretation.966266/
but since there didn't seem to be an answer I am asking it again in a slightly different form.
I was watching a youtube video where Sean Carroll explained that the energy of the waveform is conserved, and that the branches can be thought of subdivisions of the waveform, and that the subdivisions contribute less energy than the original. That seems to be a slightly different answer to one given in the thread I referenced, and I assume that is because there are different versions of how to interpret it. But what I am not clear on is how the energy of the waveform can be calculated and how the calculated value can be considered to be conserved. To highlight my point what if I consider an example of a person holding a battery connected to a lightbulb. Sean Carroll explained that our bodies contain radio active nuclei that decay 5000 times a second. Whether the decay happens or not, and presumably the direction of the decay will each lead to a branch within the waveform which would be entangled with the battery + lightbulb system (as long as there would have been a branch where the radiation did interact with that system). I am assuming the emission of a photon from the light bulb would require a certain amount of energy, and that for any branch the amount of photons emitted during the life of the battery would give an indication of the minimum energy the battery released (some being lost elsewhere). With the multiple branches, would the total amount of photons emitted be the total amount of photons over the branches? If so then would the minimum amount of energy that the battery had before the considered branches occurred (the energy that was conserved) be the energy of the sum of the branches?
Sorry if I have been imprecise in my phrasing of the question(s), but hopefully the thrust of what I am asking can be understood and a enlightening answer provided. Thanks.
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/energy-in-everetts-many-worlds-interpretation.966266/
but since there didn't seem to be an answer I am asking it again in a slightly different form.
I was watching a youtube video where Sean Carroll explained that the energy of the waveform is conserved, and that the branches can be thought of subdivisions of the waveform, and that the subdivisions contribute less energy than the original. That seems to be a slightly different answer to one given in the thread I referenced, and I assume that is because there are different versions of how to interpret it. But what I am not clear on is how the energy of the waveform can be calculated and how the calculated value can be considered to be conserved. To highlight my point what if I consider an example of a person holding a battery connected to a lightbulb. Sean Carroll explained that our bodies contain radio active nuclei that decay 5000 times a second. Whether the decay happens or not, and presumably the direction of the decay will each lead to a branch within the waveform which would be entangled with the battery + lightbulb system (as long as there would have been a branch where the radiation did interact with that system). I am assuming the emission of a photon from the light bulb would require a certain amount of energy, and that for any branch the amount of photons emitted during the life of the battery would give an indication of the minimum energy the battery released (some being lost elsewhere). With the multiple branches, would the total amount of photons emitted be the total amount of photons over the branches? If so then would the minimum amount of energy that the battery had before the considered branches occurred (the energy that was conserved) be the energy of the sum of the branches?
Sorry if I have been imprecise in my phrasing of the question(s), but hopefully the thrust of what I am asking can be understood and a enlightening answer provided. Thanks.