Related papers: Preferred basis without decoherence
We show that in a quantum measurement, the preferred basis is determined by the interaction between the apparatus and the quantum system, instead of by the environment. This interaction entangles three degrees of freedom, one system degree…
Environment induced decoherence, and other quantum processes, have been proposed in the literature to explain the apparent spontaneous selection - out of the many mathematically eligible bases - of a privileged measurement basis that…
The effect of decoherence is analysed for a free particle, interacting with an environment via a dissipative coupling. The interaction between the particle and the environment occurs by a coupling of the position operator of the particle…
This paper develops an agent-centric account of measurement that treats the preferred-basis problem is fundamentally perspectival. On this view, the system--apparatus--environment decomposition and the observables that are apt to become…
We study the problem of driving an unknown initial mixed quantum state onto a known pure state without using unitary transformations. This can be achieved, in an efficient manner, with the help of sequential measurements on at least two…
The preferred basis problem is mentioned in the literature in connection with the measurement problem and with the Many World Interpretation. It is argued that this problem actually corresponds to two inequivalent problems: (i) the…
There are many formalisms to describe quantum decoherence. However, many of them give a non general and ad hoc definition of "pointer basis" or "moving preferred basis", and this fact is a problem for the decoherence program. In this paper…
There are many formalisms to describe quantum decoherence. However, many of them give a non general and ad hoc definition of "pointer basis" or "moving preferred basis", and this fact is a problem for the decoherence program. In this paper…
The problem of measurement is often considered as an inconsistency inside the quantum formalism. Many attempts to solve (or to dissolve) it have been made since the inception of quantum mechanics. The form of these attempts depends on the…
Decoherence is widely felt to have something to do with the quantum measurement problem, but getting clear on just what is made difficult by the fact that the "measurement problem", as traditionally presented in foundational and…
It is shown that if the wave function of a quantum system undergoes an arbitrary random transformation such that the diagonal elements of the density matrix in the decoherence basis associated with a preferred observable remain constant,…
Selection of the preferred classical set of states in the process of decoherence -- so important for cosmological considerations -- is discussed with an emphasis on the role of information loss and entropy. {\it Persistence of correlations}…
We present a general analytic method for evaluating the generally time-dependent pointer states of a subsystem, which are defined by their capability not to entangle with the states of another subsystem. In this way, we show how in practice…
There are many formalisms to describe quantum decoherence. However, many of them give a non general and ad hoc definition of "pointer basis" or "moving preferred basis", and this fact is a problem for the decoherence program. In this paper…
Environment-induced decoherence and superselection have been a subject of intensive research over the past two decades, yet their implications for the foundational problems of quantum mechanics, most notably the quantum measurement problem,…
The coherence of an individual quantum state can be meaningfully discussed only when referring to a preferred basis. This arbitrariness can however be lifted when considering sets of quantum states. Here we introduce the concept of set…
Within the decoherence theory we investigate the physical background of the condition of the separability (diagonalizability in noncorrelated basis) of the interaction Hamiltonian of the composite system, "system plus environment". It…
A pair of quantum observables diagonal in the same "incoherent" basis can be measured jointly, so some coherence is obviously required for measurement incompatibility. Here we first observe that coherence in a single observable is linked to…
The effects of the measurement apparatus on quantum coherence are studied by considering a purely dephasing model of a qubit. The initial state is prepared from a thermal state of the whole system by performing a nonselective measurement on…
The evolution of observable quantities of finite quantum systems is analyzed when the latter are subject to nondestructive measurements. The type and number of measurements characterize the level of decoherence produced in the system. A…