Eternal Inflation in the Light of Quantum Cosmology

          @misc{ scivideos_PIRSA:11070015,
            doi = {10.48660/11070015},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/11070015},
            author = {Hartle, James},
            keywords = {Cosmology},
            language = {en},
            title = {Eternal Inflation in the Light of Quantum Cosmology},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics},
            year = {2011},
            month = {jul},
            note = {PIRSA:11070015 see, \url{https://scivideos.org/pirsa/11070015}}
          }
          

Abstract

If the universe is a quantum mechanical system it has a quantum state. This state supplies a probabilistic measure for alternative histories of the universe. During eternal inflation these histories typically develop large inhomogeneities that lead to a mosaic structure on superhorizon scales consisting of homogeneous patches separated by inflating regions. As observers we do not see this structure directly. Rather our observations are confined to a small, nearly homogeneous region within our past light cone. This talk will describe how the probabilities for these observations can be calculated from the probabilities supplied by the quantum state without introducing a further ad hoc measure.