>
> I enjoyed this post very much. I have one question and a comment.
> Q: I didn't know that the most general field for a vector space
> is the set of complex numbers; why is this so?
> Comment: You ask why QM should be linear. In the MWI FAQ, Price
> gives a good Anthropic argument for why this should be so, based
> on the fact that if it were in the least non-linear, then it
> would be possible to communicate between worlds.
>
>
A Field is a mathematical concept. It is a set of objects that satisfies a
certain set of axioms. The most general such object is the set of
complex numbers. (Actually, I just glanced at Fig 1 of Max Tegmark's
paper - maybe what I'm referring to is an "Abelian Field"). The point
is that in order to have linearity in your vector space, you need an
abelian field.
Cheers
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Dr. Russell Standish Director
High Performance Computing Support Unit,
University of NSW Phone 9385 6967
Sydney 2052 Fax 9385 7123
Australia R.Standish.domain.name.hidden
Room 2075, Red Centre
http://parallel.hpc.unsw.edu.au/rks
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Received on Thu Jun 10 1999 - 19:20:01 PDT