Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2012
09 April 1996, “Randomness”
I don't know if you remember me, but we met at the Santa Fe Institute Workshop on the Physics of Information two summers ago. I spoke to you about your old papers on randomness and quantum mechanics.
In any case, I am very much interested in them again. (Presently, in particular, the ones titled “Finite and Infinite Measurement Sequences in Quantum Mechanics and Randomness: The Everett Interpretation” JMP18 (1977) 2289, and “A Note on the Everett Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics” Found. Phys. 8 (1978) 709.) Carl Caves and I are writing a book on Quantum Information and are trying to get a feel for how far these sorts of considerations really go toward deriving the standard probability expression of quantum theory.
Last night I reread the latter of the two papers mentioned above. The main question on my mind now is about Section 4 “The Asymptotic Description.” At the end you state, “Thus it is an open question whether or not there is any possible state description of the asymptotic situation that includes component states each corresponding to a possible universe as perceived by an observer with memory trace ν.” Has there been any progress in this direction since then?? If there has, could you please send me a reference or outline the solution?
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