Many-worlds interpretation

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Quantum mechanics
${\displaystyle i\hbar {\frac {d}{dt}}|\Psi \rangle ={\hat {H}}|\Psi \rangle }$ Schrödinger equation
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The many-worlds interpretation (MWI) is a philosophical position about how the mathematics used in quantum mechanics relates to physical reality. It asserts that the universal wavefunction is objectively real, and that there is no wave function collapse.^[1] This implies that all possible outcomes of quantum measurements are physically realized in some "world" or universe.^[2] In contrast to some other interpretations, the evolution of reality as a whole in MWI is rigidly deterministic^[1]: 9 and local.^[3] Many-worlds is also called the relative state formulation or the Everett interpretation, after physicist Hugh Everett, who first proposed it in 1957.^[4][5] Bryce DeWitt popularized the formulation and named it many-worlds in the 1970s.^[6][1][7][8]

In modern versions of many-worlds, the subjective appearance of wave function collapse is explained by the mechanism of quantum decoherence.^[2] Decoherence approaches to interpreting quantum theory have been widely explored and developed since the 1970s.^[9][10][11] MWI is considered a mainstream interpretation of quantum mechanics, along with the other decoherence interpretations, the Copenhagen interpretation, and hidden variable theories such as Bohmian mechanics.^[12][2]

The many-worlds interpretation implies that there are most likely an uncountable number of universes.^[13] It is one of a number of multiverse hypotheses in physics and philosophy. MWI views time as a many-branched tree, wherein every possible quantum outcome is realized. This is intended to resolve the measurement problem and thus some paradoxes of quantum theory, such as Wigner's friend,^[4]: 4–6 the EPR paradox^{[5]: 462 [1]: 118} and Schrödinger's cat,^[6] since every possible outcome of a quantum event exists in its own universe.