In quantum mechanics, einselections, short for "environment-induced superselection", is a name coined by Wojciech H. Zurek[1]
for a process which is claimed to explain the appearance of wavefunction collapse and the emergence of classical descriptions of reality from quantum descriptions. In this approach, classicality is described as an emergent property induced in open quantum systems by their environments. Due to the interaction with the environment, the vast majority of states in the Hilbert space of a quantum open system become highly unstable due to entangling interaction with the environment, which in effect monitors selected observables of the system. After a decoherence time, which for macroscopic objects is typically many orders of magnitude shorter than any other dynamical timescale,[2] a generic quantum state decays into an uncertain state which can be expressed as a mixture of simple pointer states. In this way the environment induces effective superselection rules. Thus, einselection precludes stable existence of pure superpositions of pointer states. These 'pointer states' are stable despite environmental interaction. The einselected states lack coherence, and therefore do not exhibit the quantum behaviours of entanglement and superposition.
Advocates of this approach argue that since only quasi-local, essentially classical states survive the decoherence process, einselection can in many ways explain the emergence of a (seemingly) classical reality in a fundamentally quantum universe (at least to local observers). However, the basic program has been criticized as relying on a circular argument (e.g. by Ruth Kastner).[3] So the question of whether the 'einselection' account can really explain the phenomenon of wave function collapse remains unsettled.
^Zurek, W. H. (2003). "Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical". Reviews of Modern Physics. 75 (3): 715–775. arXiv:quant-ph/0105127. Bibcode:2003RvMP...75..715Z. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.75.715. S2CID 14759237.
^Zurek, Wojciech H. (2003). "Reduction of the Wavepacket: How Long Does it Take?". arXiv:quant-ph/0302044.
^Kastner, R. E. (2014). "Einselection' of Pointer Observables: the New H-Theorem?" (PDF). Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics. 48: 56–58. arXiv:1406.4126. Bibcode:2014SHPMP..48...56K. doi:10.1016/j.shpsb.2014.06.004. S2CID 20719455.
In quantum mechanics, einselections, short for "environment-induced superselection", is a name coined by Wojciech H. Zurek for a process which is claimed...
topics pursued over the course of 25 years, including pointer states, einselection and decoherence. A study in 2010 is claimed to provide preliminary supporting...
each other. This is called "environmentally-induced superselection", or einselection. The decohered elements of the system no longer exhibit quantum interference...
ISBN 0486409244. Zurek, Wojciech Hubert (2003-05-22). "Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical". Reviews of Modern Physics...
Barnes & Noble. ISBN 9780760759219. Wojciech H. Zurek, Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical, Reviews of Modern Physics...
in old analog versions would often have a gauge or pointer display. Einselection Mott problem Zurek, W. (1981). "Pointer basis of quantum apparatus: Into...
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pursued over the course of twenty-five years including pointer states, einselection and decoherence. Objective-collapse theories differ from the Copenhagen...
quantum uncertainty and the interferometric power. Wojciech H. Zurek, Einselection and decoherence from an information theory perspective, Annalen der Physik...
proof stating that a single quantum cannot be cloned; coined the terms "einselection" and "quantum discord" Antoni Zygmund (1900–1992), mathematician, "trigonometric...
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