2022/5/17 22:34 [1108.

3080] How unitary cosmology generalizes thermodynamics and solves the inflationary entropy problem

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High Energy Physics - Theory

arXiv:1108.3080 (hep-th)
[Submitted on 15 Aug 2011 (v1), last revised 15 Aug 2012 (this version, v3)]

How unitary cosmology generalizes

thermodynamics and solves the inflationary
entropy problem
Max Tegmark (MIT)
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We analyze cosmology assuming unitary quantum mechanics, using a tripartite

partition into system, observer and environment degrees of freedom. This
generalizes the second law of thermodynamics to "The system's entropy can't
decrease unless it interacts with the observer, and it can't increase unless it
interacts with the environment." The former follows from the quantum Bayes
Theorem we derive. We show that because of the long-range entanglement
created
by cosmological inflation, the cosmic entropy decreases exponentially
rather
than linearly with the number of bits of information observed, so that a given
observer can reduce entropy by much more than the amount of information her
brain can store. Indeed, we argue that as long as inflation has occurred in a
non-
negligible fraction of the volume, almost all sentient observers will find
themselves
in a post-inflationary low-entropy Hubble volume, and we humans have
no reason
to be surprised that we do so as well, which solves the so-called
inflationary
entropy problem. An arguably worse problem for unitary cosmology
involves
gamma-ray-burst constraints on the "Big Snap", a fourth cosmic
doomsday
https://arxiv.org/abs/1108.3080 1/4
2022/5/17 22:34 [1108.3080] How unitary cosmology generalizes thermodynamics and solves the inflationary entropy problem

scenario alongside the "Big Crunch", "Big Chill" and "Big Rip", where
an
increasingly granular nature of expanding space modifies our life-supporting
laws of
physics.

Our tripartite framework also clarifies when it is valid to make the popular
quantum
gravity approximation that the Einstein tensor equals the quantum
expectation
value of the stress-energy tensor, and how problems with recent
attempts to
explain dark energy as gravitational backreaction from
super-horizon scale
fluctuations can be understood as a failure of this
approximation.

Comments: Updated to match accepted PRD version, including Quantum Bayes Theorem derivation
and rigorous proof that decoherence increases von Neumann entropy. 20 pages, 5 figs
Subjects: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th); Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-
ph.CO); General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc); Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:1108.3080 [hep-th]
  (or arXiv:1108.3080v3 [hep-th] for this version)
  https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1108.3080

Focus to learn more
arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite
Related https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.85.123517
DOI:
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DOI(s) linking to related resources

Submission history
From: Max Tegmark [view email]

[v1]
Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:00:02 UTC (744 KB)
[v2]
Thu, 22 Sep 2011 22:57:28 UTC (746 KB)

[v3]
Wed, 15 Aug 2012 20:00:04 UTC (749 KB)

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