The Decoherence Of Measurement :: essays research papers

<a href="http//www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknins Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web SitesArguably the most onerous philosophical question attached to Quantum Mechanics (QM) is that of Measurement. The reliable (a.k.a. Copenhagen) Interpretation of QM says that our very act of conscious, intelligent, observable measurement determines the outcome of the measurement in the quantum (microcosmic) realm. The wave function (which describes the co-existing, superpositioned, states of the system) collapses following a measurement. It seems that just by penetrative the results of a measurement we determine its outcome, determine the state of the system and, by implication, the state of the Universe as a whole. This notion is so counter-intuitive that it fostered a waste debate which has been on going for to a greater extent than 7 decades now. But, could we have turned the question (and, inevitably, the answer) on its head? Is it the measurement th at brings about the collapse or, maybe, we are equal to(p) of measuring only collapsed results? Maybe our very ability to measure, to design measurement methods and instrumentation, to conceptualize measurement and so on are thus limited as to yield only the collapse solutions of the wave function? Superpositions are notoriously unstable. Even in the quantum realm they should last but an infinitely split secondment of time. Our measurement apparatus is not as refined as to capture a superposition long enough to justify the title of measurement or observation. By contrast, collapses are sufficiently stable to last, to be observed and measured. This is why we measure collapses. But in which sense (excluding longevity which, anyhow, is a suspicious matter in the quantum world) are collapse events measurable, what makes them so? Collapse events are not the most highly probable some(prenominal) of them are associated with low probabilities and tranquilize they occur and are measur ed. Ex definitio, the more probable states will tend to be measured more (the wave function will collapse more often into high probability states). But this does not exclude the less probable states of the quantum system from materializing upon measurement. The other possibility is that the collapse events are carefully selected for some purpose, within a certain pattern and in a certain sequence. What could that purpose be? Probably, the extension and enhancement of order in the Universe. That this is so tummy be easily substantiated it is so. Order increases all the time. This is doubly true if we adopt the anthropocentric view of the Copenhagen Interpretation (conscious, intelligent observers determine the outcomes of measurements in the quantum realm).