| ▲ | caturopath 3 hours ago | |
For example, there's probability 0 of worlds where charge isn't conserved. | ||
| ▲ | TheOtherHobbes 4 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | |
CPT symmetry isn't conserved, so that's not necessarily a given. We don't know the mechanism which generates the gauge symmetry that makes charge discrete or generates conservation laws from symmetries, so it's risky to be too prescriptive about what is and isn't possible. In the limit you can imagine a meta-technology which manipulates the mathematical structures that generate reality instead of just assuming the rules are fixed. That might or might not be possible, but the rules have to come from somewhere and there's no absolute guarantee they're hardcoded. | ||
| ▲ | ben_w 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | |
If so, this has interesting implications for the cause of the baryon asymmetry problem. Either the baryon number started non-zero and was conserved; or non-conservation of baryon number (protons vs antiprotons etc) have to be paired with equivalent non-conservation of lepton number (electrons vs positrons etc); or it can happen without simultaneously balancing the lepton number, and charge isn't conserved. Unfortunately (for me) those implications are above my level. I can't usefully converse with an LLM about it, as this isn't a domain I know well enough to detect if it's making stuff up. | ||