Decoherence: and the Quantum-To-Classical Transition

by Maximilian A. Schlosshauer

Over the course of the past decade, decoherence has become a ubiquitous scienti?c term popular in all kinds of research, from fundamental theories of quantum physics to applications in nanoengineering. Decoherence has been hailed as the solution to long-standing foundational problems dating back to the beginnings of quantum mechanics. It has been cursed as the key obstacle to next-generation technologies, such as quantum computers (another se- ingly omnipresent ?eld of research). And while decoherence has been directly observed in various experiments, its scope and meaning have often been m- understood and misrepresented. Decoherence makes a fantastic subject of research, as it touches upon many di?erent facets of physics, from phi- sophically inclined questions of interpretation all the way to down-to-earth problems in experimental settings and engineering applications. This book will introduce the reader, in an accessible and self-contained manner, to these various fascinating aspects of decoherence. It will focus in particularontherelationofdecoherencetotheso-calledquantum-to-classical transition, i. e. , the question of how decoherence may explain the emergence of the classical appearance of the macroscopic world around us from the underlying quantum substrate. Thescopeofthisbookisrelativelybroadinordertofamiliarizethereader withthemanyfacetsofdecoherence,inboththetheoreticalandexperimental domains. Throughout the book, I have sought to maintain a healthy balance betweentheconceptualideasassociatedwiththedecoherenceprogramonthe one hand and the formal and mathematical details on the other hand. This book will establish a proper understanding of decoherence as a pure quantum phenomenon and will emphasize the importance of the correct interpretation of theconsequences and achievements of decoherence.

Genres: Physics, Science, Philosophy, Quantum Mechanics

433 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Peter Faul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decoherence is the process by which quantum systems entangle with the environment. As it turns out, decomposing quantum systems into these components allows for a number of interesting conclusions to be drawn. For instance it naturally explains why we very rarely see interference effects macroscopically. It also distinguishes certain pointer states and in part justifies why they seem to be the states we encounter in real life. While this sounds almost philosophical it's important to note that decoherence is derived purely mathematically and is intrinsic to quantum mechanics no matter your interpretation (in fact decoherence has actually been experimentally verified).

The book does eventually go into the more philosophical implication of decoherence relating the results to various interpretations.

This is a brilliant overview of decoherence and its a must read if you're interested in interpretations of quantum mechanics. I was only interested in Chapters 1, 2, 6, 8 and 9, basically those concerning decoherence itself and those discussing its philosophical interpretations. The rest I skimmed very quickly.

[Dmitry Podolsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is very comprehensive; I cannot recommend it as a good technical introduction into the subject, though. Many important developments (such as integro-differential master equations, instanton formalism for decoherence) are not discussed, sometimes only mentioned, and there is way too much philosophy of quantum mechanics (about half of the 450 pp book, by my estimation).