English

Quantum Darwinism requires an extra-theoretical assumption of encoding redundancy

Quantum Physics 2010-09-07 v2

Abstract

Observers restricted to the observation of pointer states of apparatus cannot conclusively demonstrate that the pointer of an apparatus A registers the state of a system of interest S without perturbing S. Observers cannot, therefore, conclusively demonstrate that the states of a system S are redundantly encoded by pointer states of multiple independent apparatus without destroying the redundancy of encoding. The redundancy of encoding required by quantum Darwinism must, therefore, be assumed from outside the quantum-mechanical formalism and without the possibility of experimental demonstration.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1003.5136,
  title  = {Quantum Darwinism requires an extra-theoretical assumption of encoding redundancy},
  author = {Chris Fields},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1003.5136},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

5 pages, 1 figure. Comments on foundational assumptions of W. Zurek (2009) Nat Phys 5 181 (arXiv 0903.5082). v2 significant revision to improve clarity

R2 v1 2026-06-21T15:03:03.896Z