Born's Rule Is Insufficient in a Large Universe

Abstract

Probabilities in quantum theory are traditionally given by Born's rule as the expectation values of projection operators. Here it is shown that Born's rule is insufficient in universes so large that they contain identical multiple copies of observers, because one does not have definite projection operators to apply. Possible replacements for Born's rule include using the expectation value of various operators that are not projection operators, or using various options for the average density matrix of a region with an observation. The question of what replacement to use is part of the measure problem in cosmology.