Parallel Worlds pro et contra

Zadikyan Artur

Ruthra took note: although their faces remained serious, a slight chuckle ran through them.

– Let's hear what science has to say about it. A multiverse is a hypothetical set of all possible real-life parallel universes, including the one we are in. According to the hypothesis of Hugh Everett, the creator of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, we live in a universe, or rather, a multiverse, in which many successive worlds are constantly being born and branched off, each containing a different version of you. I'll tell you right away – don't try to memorize everything by heart. We will come back to this topic many times, and I will give details, explain everything. So, physicists who studied this topic used the many-worlds interpretation to explain the incomprehensibility of the Copenhagen interpretation, namely, the statement that an unobservable phenomenon can exist in two states. There is the Copenhagen interpretation, Everett's many-worlds interpretation, and a bunch of other theories, but these are the main ones. So instead of saying that Schrodinger's cat is both alive and dead – the many-worlds interpretation says that the cat has simply "branched off" into different worlds: in one it is alive, in another it is dead. Now here we need to sort of move on to this cat.

Ruthra looked at Andrian and noticed his desire to show his knowledge of the subject, but the girls didn't know, because it wasn't a woman's subject. So, with a nod, Ruthra continued:

– So, the cat experiment. It was presented to the world by someone very clever and imaginative – Uncle Schroedinger. What is the experiment? The point is that at the atomic level there are processes that are miracles and mysticism for our material world. These are such processes as, for example, a flying atom, which at first has the shape of a ball, but as soon as we decide to photograph it, that is, see it, it turns into a line. There are such oddities in the microcosm. It's as if this particle sees us, or rather, the observer, and appears in a different image. You may ask, how do we know that the atom was a ball before it was seen? And I will answer you: there is a trace that it leaves on the screen in front of it. It has to be recorded somehow, that it was there at all. I'll explain more about that later, but for now about this cat. It's actually a thought experiment. There is no cat. So, conditionally, we take a cat and put it in a box. We put a flask of poisonous gas, a radioactive atom and a Geiger counter. The radioactive atom may or may not decay at any moment, that's its nature. If it decays, the counter will detect the fact – and a special mechanism will break the flask with gas, and the cat will die. If it doesn't, the cat stays alive. Here's the one with and without surveillance. We close the cat in the box – from this moment, from the point of view of quantum mechanics, our atom is in a state of uncertainty: whether it has disintegrated or not. For us, while we are in ignorance, without precise observation, before we open the box and look in it – it will be in two states at once. And since the cat's life directly depends on the state of this atom, it turns out that the cat is literally alive and dead at the same time. That's how quantum theory depicts this situation. Now we move smoothly to the multiverse. So what's the point? In different variations it is as if the life of the cat, i.e. atom, and consequently – of all atoms and, of course, of everything that consists of these atoms – is under question: how it is there – in the world where another event happened. Here I will go a little bit ahead and say that we should add such a mystical phenomenon as quantum entanglement. This is such a thing, when two particles are friends, let's say, but they were separated, they scattered. Well, they're twins, let's say. So these twins can fly apart over incredible distances, but they can stay connected to each other. A bond so strong that it's instantaneous, faster than the speed of light. Of course, you don't have to know all the laws of physics, but I'll tell you that in our world, in our universe, there is nothing greater than the speed of light. No, because it's a law! But not in this case. Nevertheless, it is still a kind of mysticism: how and with what help they make this connection – no one knows yet. A miracle in the solid laws of exact science. It sounds delusional, but it is a fact. Here I have already told you about two mystical phenomena. Now, of course, you'll think: why did he gather us here and tell us such things? But you're interested, aren't you? Aren't you?

– Well, yes, hard to understand, but interesting," Iulia replied expectantly.

Ruthra looked around at everyone: those gathered were a little pensive and tense, but satisfied.

– Since we have understood the topic, the essence, and, most importantly, each other, I suggest that we continue to delve further into the program in a more comfortable environment, for example, in a cafe, over a cup of tea. First of all, we forget about my proposal. The legend will be as follows: I am a researcher of one international organization, which is conducting a space project. Specifically, training astronauts to go to Mars. It's not much of a surprise nowadays. To be convincing, we need to talk about the ongoing program of flight simulation and crew cohabitation. There is a real program. You can refer to it. I will now give information on it, if anything – all your data will really be entered into that program. So everything is real. You have to live it, get into the roles so much that you can start having conversations among yourselves about it as if it were your real business.

– What about secrecy then? – Andrian asked.

– Secrecy is exactly what it is all about: the false story must look like the real story, no one must in any case know about the true deeds. Understand, great minds think there, so everything is provided for. Our program itself is so incredible that even if you tell about it – your false story will be believed more than the real one. I'll give you a few days to think about it. All your conversations are being monitored. I'll send you links to where and what to read about the program. You can talk openly about suggestions for the program. Now listen to a little more about the program that will be a legend. Are you ready?

Everyone shook their heads in agreement. Ruthra turned on a video: "Mars Flight Simulation: Participants in a new test will spend eight months in isolation. After a short introductory video, he looked around at everyone. Even this information was definitely something out of the realm of science fiction for the ladies.

– I hope the topic is clear? – he asked, turning off the video.

– It's clear," Andrian replied.

The others reacted in silence, though their faces expressed both delight and bewilderment.

– Now the following. You will be in Europe, directly in the dungeons of CERN. For those who don't know enough, CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the world's largest laboratory for high-energy physics. It is located on the border of Switzerland and France, near Geneva. Legend has it you'll be at the Ames Research Center, USA. It's one of NASA's laboratories. Areas of activity: information technology, space biology, astrobiology; research on the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe; research on the operation, capabilities of airplanes, their operation and safety. Located on the grounds of Moffett Federal Airfield, near Mountain View, California. Memorize quickly and, if you want to be on the project, stay focused. Now coming out.

They left the building and went to the same cafe from where Rutra had pointed to the place of this meeting, and soon they were sipping coffee together. Rutra continued:

– So, we pass to representations about parallel worlds, which form those very second particles escaped from the first ones. The many-worlds interpretation itself remains quite a controversial issue. Not everyone presents it in the same way. Even among scientists studying the subject, there is no agreement. That's because no one has ever been there. It's like heaven and hell. Everyone describes everything, but nobody knows anything for sure, because nobody has ever returned from there. Maybe they have, since everyone imagines these places as really existing. So there are no less interesting and hot disputes about parallel worlds. Here it is necessary to say something in favor of physics. Note, not everything is based on some notions and conditional belief: really experiments with particles are carried out.

Everyone looked at Rutra with even more interest.

– You want to know exactly what experiments and how? About that later, in the center," Rutra said the last in a whisper. – I'll just say that Chinese scientists launched the second particle into space on a satellite, and on Earth they influenced the first particle; so it changed there instantly. Nobody can understand how they communicate, and more importantly – at what speed, because it is literally instantaneous. Yes, yes, a miracle. However, let's go further. It is difficult for us to imagine even the size of the Sun relative to us, and the fact that we live in a multiverse of gigantic dimensions is beyond comprehension. We can imagine something huge, but here the mechanisms of our imagination are triggered, which were also formed by evolution. People once thought that space ended at the horizon line. Then they went to look for the edge of the earth, including the sea. But they soon realized that there was no edge. Then we went into space. Now we're trying to figure out how long a light year is. And that's a lot. For example, moving at 300,000 kilometers per second, light takes a second to reach the Moon. It's over eight minutes to the Sun. And to the nearest star other than the Sun, it takes four years. So calculate how many seconds and how many kilometers light travels in a year. And our galaxy is 100,000 light years across. And it's not the biggest. To the known "edges" of the universe – either 13-15, or all 37 billion light years. Imagine traveling at that speed for that many years. And that, it turns out, is not the limit of the multiverse's imagination. Imagine that our universe is one city, and there are more cities out there, somewhere very, very far away. Believe me, that's a lot. Our sun holds over 1,350,000 planets like Earth. And in our galaxy, how many stars do you think there are?

Ruthra was so engrossed in the story that he didn't notice how the tense, thoughtful faces of his listeners had changed to cheerful and mischievous ones.

– God knows," again the first was JULIA.

Andrian remained silent, the other ladies shrugged their shoulders, smiling.

– I understand what you're thinking. You're thinking, what does the amount of money I outlined have to do with a reasonable job offer from the organization we met in the basement of? Why did we leave there, fearing a wiretap, what does that have to do with an interesting astronomy story? Hello, though. You have to listen to understand. Now on to the next one. So, there are so many of them that scientists can't tell the exact number – whether it's 100 billion, or 200, or 300, or even 400 billion. And that's just in our galaxy. Let's move on to this very interpretation. Interpretation is also a kind of inaccuracy, a kind of representation that it is like this… I am telling you all this to make you realize that it is really very difficult and unrealistic to understand information at first. I told you – you have to believe me. If I do not bring you to the secret center and do not give you the first part of the sum – then you will have the right to consider everything a lie and fantasy. That would be natural. So now is the moment of truth. Don't laugh, don't be surprised. Take it for granted; I didn't just tell you everything and give you examples. Imagine that tomorrow all the news agencies of the world will report the fixation of a signal from an unearthly intelligence. Would that be a shock? Yes, of course it would. And if these signals were constant? What would you say a year from now? It won't be a big deal. Everyone will get used to it. It's the same thing with the lighter, TV, real-time wireless video, organ transplants and all that. So now I'm going to shock you a little bit. Remember what I said about the mystique of the microcosm of particles? Well, these particles are somehow flying apart, but they're still connected to each other. From this fact, we began to develop the theory of parallel worlds. Yes, yes. It all fits. If there is an antiproton, for the discovery of which we have already received the Nobel Prize, why should not all substances exist in the opposite, i.e. antivariant? And now let's ask: what kind of world do they form? The opposite world, of course. These second scattered, they are called entangled pairs, particles and form their own world, which is as if mirror relative to ours. That is, parallel. Is that funny? Maybe. But the truth, like the author, is near. The inventor of this theory is before you. Your doubts are normal. Now we've come to the line where the scientific review begins. Let's take another coffee and listen to Rutra.

– I'll take the tea," Andrian said and raised his hand, signaling the waiter.

– We'll be right there," Iulia said smiling.

YatSan and Catherine stood up with her, all of them heading towards the inside of the cafe in a friendly manner.

– Is it really real? – Andrian asked.

Ruthra nodded thoughtfully and affirmatively.

– Absolutely.

– Parallel worlds?!

– Imagine a very, very small circle of people knowing about this. Now imagine how great a responsibility I've placed on you.