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> decoherence- produces what we call the collapse of the wave function to a "classical" state Decoherence can explain the diagonalization of the density matrix
by millstone 11y ago
> decoherence- produces what we call the collapse of the wave function to a "classical" state
Decoherence can explain the diagonalization of the density matrix: it takes a state to a mixture of eigenstates. However "the collapse of the wavefunction" induced by a measurement selects a single eigenstate. Decoherence does not explain that. For example it cannot explain the Born rule.
- yummyfajitas 11y agoThe appearance of the Born Rule is explained by decoherence + bohmian mechanics or decoherence + many worlds. (At least my interpretation of many worlds, which is an ensemble of Bohmian trajectories. There are other interpretations of many worlds which I don't understand well.) The actual Born rule is approximately explained by decoherence + GRW. So decoherence + simple ontology is a great way to avoid the vagueness that Copenhagen gives you.