The Mathematical Universe

I explore physics implications of the External Reality Hypothesis (ERH) that there exists an external physical reality completely independent of us humans. I argue that with a sufficiently broad definition of mathematics, it implies the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis (MUH) that our physical world is an abstract mathematical structure. I discuss various implications of the ERH and MUH, ranging from standard physics topics like symmetries, irreducible representations, units, free parameters, randomness and initial conditions to broader issues like consciousness, parallel universes and Godel incompleteness. I hypothesize that only computable and decidable (in Godel's sense) structures exist, which alleviates the cosmological measure problem and help explain why our physical laws appear so simple. I also comment on the intimate relation between mathematical structures, computations, simulations and physical systems.Comment: Replaced to match accepted Found. Phys. version, 31 pages, 5 figs; more details at http://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/toe.htm

The Algebraic View of Computation

We argue that computation is an abstract algebraic concept, and a computer is a result of a morphism (a structure preserving map) from a finite universal semigroup.Comment: 13 pages, final version will be published elsewher

Second quantization of the elliptic Calogero-Sutherland model

We use loop group techniques to construct a quantum field theory model of anyons on a circle and at finite temperature. We find an anyon Hamiltonian providing a second quantization of the elliptic Calogero-Sutherland model. This allows us to prove a remarkable identity which is a starting point for an algorithm to construct eigenfunctions and eigenvalues of the elliptic Calogero-Sutherland Hamiltonian (this algorithm is elaborated elsewhere). This paper contains a detailed introduction, technical details and proofs.Comment: 36 page