PhilSci Archive

Interpretation and decoherence: a contribution to the debate Vasallo & Esfeld vs Crull

Fortin, Sebastian and Lombardi, Olimpia (2017) Interpretation and decoherence: a contribution to the debate Vasallo & Esfeld vs Crull. [Preprint]

[img]
Preview
Text
Interpretation and decoherence-Final.pdf

Download (243kB) | Preview

Abstract

Two recent papers appeared in FOOP disagree regarding the role played by decoherence in quantum physics. On the one hand, Elise Crull considers that decoherence, by itself, solves many conceptual problems in quantum physics, with no need of interpretative considerations. On the other hand, Antonio Vassallo and Michael Esfeld reply by correctly claiming that, although decoherence is a powerful tool to deal with conceptual problems, it does not dispense us from interpreting the formalism. In this brief note we want to contribute to the debate with further considerations from another viewpoint.
In this work we show that the discussions "decoherence versus interpretation" revolve around whether the theory of decoherence requires interpretive considerations to solve the measurement problem. In general, those discussions take the theory of decoherence for granted, as if it would not involve any difficulty. Therefore, they commonly focus on the "interpretation" wing: even in the case that the open system decoheres in a given basis, the whole closed system is still in a superposition and, thus, without an adequate interpretation, it cannot be said that the observables defined by that basis behave classically. Here we have focused on the "decoherence" wing: given the conceptual challenges that the theory must face and the alternative approaches to the orthodox view, the understanding of the very phenomenon of decoherence still requires a great deal of interpretive work.


Export/Citation: EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
Social Networking:
Share |

Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Fortin, Sebastiansfortin@conicet.gov.ar
Lombardi, Olimpiaolimpiafilo@arnet.com.ar
Keywords: Decoherence; Classical limit; Interpretation of quantum mechanics
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User: Dr. Sebastian Fortin
Date Deposited: 23 Oct 2017 00:08
Last Modified: 23 Oct 2017 00:08
Item ID: 14052
Official URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10701-0...
DOI or Unique Handle: 10.1007/s10701-017-0121-4
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date: October 2017
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/14052

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Altmetric.com

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item