Abstract
Examining the notion of wavefunction collapse (WFC) in quantum measurements, which came again to be in question in the recent debate on the quantum Zeno effect, we remark that WFC is realized only through decoherence among branch waves by detection, after a spectral decomposition process from an initial object wavefunction to a superposition of branch waves corresponding to relevant measurement propositions. We improve the definition of the decoherence parameter, so as to be fitted to general cases, by which we can quantitatively estimate the degree of WFC given by detectors. Finally, we briefly discuss whether two special detector models, with very huge and very small degrees of freedom, can provoke WFC.
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Namiki, M. Decoherence and Wavefunction Collapse in Quantum Measurements. Foundations of Physics 29, 457–464 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018827217752
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018827217752