Interdisciplinary Aspects of the Multiverse Concept

A special issue of Sci (ISSN 2413-4155).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2022) | Viewed by 3239

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Early Universe Cosmology and Strings (EUCOS) Group, Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics and Engineering Research (CASPER), Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798, USA
Interests: quantum field theory; quantum gravity; quantum cosmology; traversable wormholes; Casimir effect; quantum information theory; quantum thermodynamics; philosophical foundations of quantum mechanics; multiverse concepts
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Dear Colleagues,

Summary/Rationale: In the distant past, the concept of a vast cosmos and possible multiplicity of universes was predominantly a philosophical (or theological) concept. However, over the span of the last half-century, proposals for a multiverse have developed as a result of our ongoing scientific understanding of our universe, in combination with our simultaneous perplexity of many of its features. For example, a multiverse can explain the apparent fine-tuning of our universe for life, and especially for sentient life. For many cosmologists, a multiverse has come to be perceived as an inevitable outcome of the quantum mechanical processes that likely produced our universe.

Nevertheless, the increased focus on the multiverse concept has sparked growing attention and debate both within, and between, the scientific and philosophical communities. Disagreement abounds regarding whether the multiverse concept is a proper subject for scientific inquiry or if instead it should be understood primarily as a philosophical concept. This Special Issue of Sci is dedicated to this debate. Papers addressing any aspect(s) of this debate are invited to be submitted for publication in this Sci Special Issue. Papers that pursue interdisciplinary approaches are especially welcome.

Prof. Dr. Gerald Cleaver
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Cosmology
  • Cosmological anthropic principle
  • Multiverse hierarchy
  • Alternative universe
  • Parallel universe
  • Universe branching
  • Eternal inflation
  • String landscape
  • Many worlds interpretation
  • Observation selection theory
  • Predictions and testability.

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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30 pages, 1697 KiB  
Article
How Generic Is Eternal Inflation?
by Ross Greenwood and Anthony Aguirre
Sci 2022, 4(2), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/sci4020023 - 31 May 2022
Viewed by 2362
Abstract
Everlasting inflation has far-reaching implications for cosmology and the standing of self-localizing inferences made by observers, which have been subjects of renewed interest in light of the growing acceptance of theory landscapes and the attendant anthropic arguments. Under what assumptions and to what [...] Read more.
Everlasting inflation has far-reaching implications for cosmology and the standing of self-localizing inferences made by observers, which have been subjects of renewed interest in light of the growing acceptance of theory landscapes and the attendant anthropic arguments. Under what assumptions and to what extent does inflation generically produce an eternal “multiverse,” without fine-tuning with respect to measures over the space of inflationary cosmologies driven by a single minimally coupled scalar field? We address this and related questions with numerical simulations of inflationary dynamics across populations of randomly generated inflation models, instantiating a few particular simply-defined measures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interdisciplinary Aspects of the Multiverse Concept)
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