Boltzmann babies in the proper time measure
- Department of Physics and Center for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
After commenting briefly on the role of the typicality assumption in science, we advocate a phenomenological approach to the cosmological measure problem. Like any other theory, a measure should be simple, general, well defined, and consistent with observation. This allows us to proceed by elimination. As an example, we consider the proper time cutoff on a geodesic congruence. It predicts that typical observers are quantum fluctuations in the early universe, or Boltzmann babies. We sharpen this well-known youngness problem by taking into account the expansion and open spatial geometry of pocket universes. Moreover, we relate the youngness problem directly to the probability distribution for observables, such as the temperature of the cosmic background radiation. We consider a number of modifications of the proper time measure, but find none that would make it compatible with observation.
- OSTI ID:
- 21204973
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 77, Issue 10; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.77.103514; (c) 2008 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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