Remarks on the Direction of Time in Quantum Mechanics

Hemmo, Meir (2002) Remarks on the Direction of Time in Quantum Mechanics.

Abstract

I consider the question of the direction of time in the context of the Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics. I focus on the special role of decoherence in the recovery of time asymmetric behaviour, such as the collapse of the quantum state and the thermodynamic regularities. The discussion is based on results in the consistent histories approach (Gell-Mann and Hartle 1993) and in decoherence theory (Zurek and Paz 1994). Finally, I compare the status of the direction of time in Everett and in a recent proposal by Albert (2001) based on the collapse theory of Ghirardi, Rimini and Weber (1986).