Sean Carroll: Extracting the universe from the wave function

Quantum mechanics is a theory of wave functions in Hilbert space. Many features that we generally take for granted when we use quantum mechanics -- classical spacetime, locality, the system/environment split, collapse/branching, preferred observables, the Born rule for probabilities -- should in principle be derivable from the basic ingredients of the quantum state and the Hamiltonian. I will discuss recent progress on these problems, including consequences for emergent spacetime and quantum gravity.


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About QISS

The Quantum Information Structure of Spacetime (http://www.qiss.fr) is an interdisciplinary research initiative among several universities and research institutes all over the world, supported by the John Templeton Foundation through the grants https://www.templeton.org/grant/the-quantum-information-structure-of-spacetime-qiss and https://www.templeton.org/grant/the-quantum-information-structure-of-spacetime-qiss-second-phase, coordinated from The Samy Maroun Center for Space, Time and the Quantum (http://www.spacetimeandquantum.com).

The goal of QISS is to explore and connect the research domains of Quantum Information/Computing, Quantum Gravity and Quantum Foundations. Main objectives are to found the physics of quantum spacetime on an information-theoretic basis, to bring within reach empirical access to quantum gravity in 'table-top' laboratory conditions by exploiting rapid advances in quantum computing related technologies and using quantum information theoretic concepts, and to promote an extensive interaction between physicists and philosophers on the conceptual role of information in spacetime physics.