Related papers: Three consequences of decompositional consistency
We introduce the notion of "separation of conditions" meaning that a description of statistical data obtained from experiments, performed under a set of different conditions, allows for a decomposition such that each partial description…
We briefly review a number of major features of the approach to quantum measurement theory based on environment-induced decoherence of the measuring apparatus, and summarize our observations in the form of a couple of general principles…
Decoherence may not solve all of the measurement problems of quantum mechanics. It is proposed that a solution to these problems may be to allow that superpositions describe physically real systems in the following sense. Each quantum…
The quantum theory of decoherence plays an important role in a pragmatist interpretation of quantum theory. It governs the descriptive content of claims about values of physical magnitudes and offers advice on when to use quantum…
Quantum decoherence arises due to uncontrollable entanglement between a system with its environment. However the effects of decoherence are often thought of and modeled through a simpler picture in which the role of the environment is to…
A persistent focus on the concept of emergence as a core element of the scientific method allows a clean separation, insofar as this is possible, of the physical and philosophical aspects of the problem of outcomes in quantum mechanics. The…
We propose a list of conditions that consistency with thermodynamics imposes on linear and nonlinear generalizations of standard unitary quantum mechanics that assume a set of true quantum states without the restriction $\rho^2=\rho$ even…
The measurement postulate of quantum theory stands in conflict with the laws of thermodynamics and has evoked debate regarding what actually constitutes a measurement. With the help of modern quantum statistical mechanics, we take the first…
We study an influence of the continuous measurement in a composite quantum system C on the evolution of the states of its parts. It is shown that the character of the evolution (decoherence or recoherence) depends on the type of the…
"The unambiguous account of proper quantum phenomena must, in principle, include a description of all relevant features of experimental arrangement" (Bohr). The measurement process is composed of pre-measurement (quantum correlation of the…
By imposing system-observer symmetry on the von Neumann description of measurement, it is shown that the quantum measurement problem is structurally equivalent to a familiar reverse-engineering problem: that of describing the behavior of an…
It is generally agreed that decoherence theory is, if not a complete answer, at least a great step forward towards a solution of the quantum measurement problem. It is shown here however that in the cases in which a sentient being is…
It is argued that Feynman's rules for evaluating probabilities, combined with von Neumann's principle of psycho-physical parallelism, help avoid inconsistencies, often associated with quantum theory. The former allows one to assign…
An analysis of quantum measurement is presented that relies on an information-theoretic description of quantum entanglement. In a consistent quantum information theory of entanglement, entropies (uncertainties) conditional on measurement…
We consider environment induced decoherence of quantum superpositions to mixtures in the limit in which that process is much faster than any competing one generated by the Hamiltonian $H_{\rm sys}$ of the isolated system. While the golden…
For an arbitrary preparation, quantum mechanical descriptions refer to the complementary contexts set by incompatible measurements. We argue that an arbitrary preparation, therefore, should be described with respect to such a context by its…
We propose a theory of quantum (statistical) measurement which is close, in spirit, to Hepp's theory, which is centered on the concepts of decoherence and macroscopic (classical) observables, and apply it to a model of the Stern-Gerlach…
The decoherence phenomenon arising from an environmental monitoring of the state of a quantum system, as opposed to monitoring of a preferred observable, is worked out in detail using two equivalent formulations, namely, repeated…
We examine the role of a conscious observer in a typical quantum mechanical measurement. Four rules are given that govern stochastic choice and state reduction in several cases of continuous and intermittent observation. It is found that…
This paper presents arguments purporting to show that von Neumann's description of the measurement process in quantum mechanics has a modern day version in the decoherence approach. We claim that this approach and the de Broglie-Bohm theory…