A NEW study of quantum mechanics has argued that a real-life multiverse could be much bigger than ever previously imagined.
Just like the fictional multiverse depicted in sci-fi movies and the Marvel superhero universe, we too could be living in a world where multiple realities are possible.
That's according to a study published on the academic site Arxiv.
The study outlines a new interpretation of quantum mechanics.
It suggests parallel universes are created each time we make a decision.
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A team of researchers, which included Arsalan Adil from the University of California, Davis, created a new algorithm to investigate just how many alternative realities there could be.
Their study focussed on how particles and energy interact as well as how observers like humans could change the direction of reality.
They categorized views of the world into subsystems and discovered multiple realms of new worlds could be created.
New Scientist gives the example of a world in which you could make a coffee or a cup of tea and instantly create a new universe based on your decision.
The multiple worlds theory suggests a simple decision like this could lead to multiple different universes in which you pick one or the other and this then has a knock-on effect on your day.
“This is a good, serious, useful contribution to the growing literature on how to take a ‘bare bones’ quantum mechanical theory and extract from it something resembling the classical world of our experience,” said Sean Carroll at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, according to the New Scientist.
The researchers admit that their study still leaves many questions.
What an enlarged multiverse means for our current reality is still unclear.
Whether the multiverse actually exists is also another question.
What the study did do is add to the research in this area leading us closer to cracking the mystery.
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"We have had so many arguments over this, we’ve tied ourselves in circles," Zoe Holmes from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne is quoted as saying.