Does Cold-Induced Melting Challenge the Many Worlds Interpretation?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the implications of cold-induced melting of glass on the Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics. It is established that glass can melt again when temperatures approach absolute zero, raising questions about the state of wave functions in quantum mechanics. Participants argue that once a particle's position is measured, it does not remain in that state, particularly at low temperatures, challenging the notion of unobserved states in quantum mechanics.

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debert
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According to this link:

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/7ZF6uJ/io9.com/5757404/awesome-discovery-of-the-week-glass-melts-when-it-gets-too-cold

... Glass, it turns out, is the exception. Once it gets close to absolute zero, it melts again. ...​

My question:

“Now, according to what I am trying to understand about this, wouldn’t this set up a strange conundrum for the many worlds view? If the wave functions comprising the glass have already manifested themselves as particles in our universe, how could they return to potential wave functions due only to temperature?”

debert
 
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Hello alxm,

But it doesn't appear that the glass would have been left in an unobserved or unmeasured state, does it?

debert

alxm said:
As I recently explained in https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=3149720&postcount=6" post a few days ago, when the location of an particle has been 'measured' (i.e. it's been detected 'as a particle'), it doesn't stay that way. In particular at low temperatures.
 
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