Is quantum mechanics universal? Is the entire universe a unified quantum object? Everett's work on the foundations of quantum theory has been described by Max Jammer, a philosopher of science, as "one of the most daring and most ambitious theories ever constructed in the history of science." The goal of this research program is to take Everett's principle of quantum universality, that the wavefunction of the universe exists and evolves unitarily according to the Schrodinger equation, as the foundational starting point to quantum cosmology. The program is radically ambitious: using nothing more than quantum universality, bootstrap to a unique closed-form wavefunction of the Universe and work out the observable consequences.
Paper 0: On the Origins of the Universe and the Nature of the Cosmological Singularity
Paper 1: The Everettian Conformal Bootstrap
I love taking risks. That's why I left the academy to pursue this program. When I graduated in 2015 with a degree in mathematical physics from Utah State, the dogma that is the Copenhagen interpretation was still in full-force. There was no obvious career path at the intersection of quantum foundations and cosmology. And certainly no path that would tolerate my complete lack of risk aversion. So I left and pursued a research program that had me totally obsessed.
There are many open problems in the program, some more technically challenging than others. Perhaps the most impactful place to make a contribution is solving the final equation in The Everettian Conformal Bootstrap paper. In fact, you may falsify the theory if you find the Einstein field equations for the dual vacuum stress-energy tensor (which has the equation of state for dark matter) doesn't fit with observation! Or you might find just the opposite.
This research program practices a radical form of open source science. Anyone can contribute. If an error is found in one of the manuscripts please open an issue and feel free to discuss with others with similar takes. While I can't promise to address every issue raised, I will do my best. If you have well-fleshed comments or rebuttals please, feel free to open a Pull Request (PR) with your submission! Or, alternatively, anyone is free to make a thread on the Discussions tab of this research repository.
At this time, there are no guidelines for submission. (This is the Wild West of research at the knife's edge.) I strongly encourage subject matter experts with the desire to write a referee report to do so and open a PR.
If you want to contribute (in either a technical capacity or an artistic one) to the program and/or collaborate on future papers please reach out! There are no shortage of calculations that can be done. Many of these calculations could even falsify the theory, or, lead to consequences that either have been or will be observed.
The speech here is nearly unrestricted. If something gets you fired up and spicy, feel free to be combative (within reason). If you are anonymous and an asshole, I will view you with great suspicion and reserve the right to let you taste the ban hammer. If you are an asshole and not anonymous, I can respect that.