Ah ha! Been looking for this for years not knowing what it was called.
Virtual copies of a system, considered all at once.
In philosophy, via Leibniz, it is “possible worlds”.
In mathematics, via Gibbs, it’s “virtual copies of a system”.
Today, we talk easily about “Multiverse”.
I have more connections to make, but for these two fields (mathematics (statistics / physics (classic / quantum)) and philosophy) I feel satisfied.
Ensemble (statistical ensemble). Virtual copies of a system, considered all at once.
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In mathematical physics, especially as introduced into statistical mechanics and thermodynamics by J. Willard Gibbs in 1902, an ensemble (also statistical ensemble) is an idealization consisting of a large number of virtual copies (sometimes infinitely many) of a system, considered all at once, each of which represents a possible state that the real system might be in. In other words, a statistical ensemble is a probability distribution for the state of the system.
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http://ift.tt/1mtA7rc
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