The Wave Function of the Universe

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When we say the quantum state of a system, that's something that we are very used to treating as a quantum mechanical object. So it's a function of every possible location, we could measure it. What we really mean and certainly what Stephen meant in the 80s by a wave function of the universe is very much a wave function," he says. "It describes a superposition of various possible universes"

Is there a multiverse, and if so, how should we think of ourselves within it? In many modern cosmological models, the universe includes more than one realm, with possibly different laws of physics, and these realms may or may not include intelligent observers. There is a longstanding puzzle about how, in such a scenario, we should calculate what we, as presumably intelligent observers ourselves, should expect to see. Today's guest, Thomas Hertog, is a physicist and longstanding collaborator of Stephen Hawking. They worked together (often with James Hartle) to address these questions, and the work is still ongoing.

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Thomas Hertog received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge. He is currently a professor of theoretical physics at KU Leuven. His new book is On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking's Final Theory.

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