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arXiv · 0803.0944

Physics from scratch. Letter on M. Tegmark's ``The Mathematical Universe''

Antonio N. Bernal·Miguel Sánchez·Francisco José Soler Gil
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Abstract

In a recent article, M. Tegmark poses the hypothesis that our known universe is a ``baggage free'' mathematical structure among many other possible ones, which also correspond to other physical universes --Mathematical Universe Hypothesis, MUH. Naturally, questions arise, such as how to obtain the physical properties of our world from the mathematical structure, or how many possibilities exist for a Universe minimally similar to ours. In this letter we present some results which can be regarded as a strengthening of MUH, as they give some hints on the derivation of spacetime in current physics from a baggage free mathematical structure. Concretely, we argue that the set of mathematical structures which can be interpreted as a description of a spacetime is drastically reduced, if one admits some natural postulates on minimal symmetry. Furthermore, the apparently very particular form of classical Galilei-Newton and relativistic spacetimes, is not arbitrary and cannot be regarded as ``two possibilities among arbitrarily many others''. In fact, such theories are determined by a single mathematical structure which only permits four possible types of spacetimes. Finally, we show how the minimal postulates on symmetry can be endowed with a simple physical interpretation, i.e., they acquire ``baggage'' in a natural way.

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Antonio N. Bernal, Miguel Sánchez, Francisco José Soler Gil. 2008-03-06. Physics from scratch. Letter on M. Tegmark's ``The Mathematical Universe''. https://arxiv.org/abs/0803.0944

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