Branching (Almost) Everywhere And All at Once

Abstract:It is sometimes said that a reason to prefer Everettian quantum mechanics is that it allows one to avoid the kind of spooky action at a distance that is a consequence of quantum entanglement according to other approaches. There is a straightforward argument to show EQM has this virtue, however some advocates argue that this requires we see branching as a local causal process. I explain this reasoning and then show why, given the way Everettians standardly conceive of worlds and branching as emergent phenomena, branching need not be viewed as a causal process for EQM to be relativistically local. Forthcoming in Local Quantum Mechanics, OUP 2026.

Quantum Physics (quant-ph); History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)

arXiv:2608.18644 [quant-ph]

(or arXiv:2608.18644v1 [quant-ph] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.18644 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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