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Anthropomorphic Quantum Darwinism as an Explanation for Classicality

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Abstract

According to Zurek, the emergence of a classical world from a quantum substrate could result from a long selection process that privileges the classical bases according to a principle of optimal information. We investigate the consequences of this principle in a simple case, when the system and the environment are two interacting scalar particles supposedly in a pure state. We show that then the classical regime corresponds to a situation for which the entanglement between the particles (the system and the environment) disappears. We describe in which circumstances this factorisability condition is fulfilled, in the case that the particles interact via position-dependent potentials, and also describe in appendix the tools necessary for understanding our results (entanglement, Bell inequalities and so on).

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  1. TONA Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Thomas Durt

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  1. Thomas Durt
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Correspondence to Thomas Durt.

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It is even an open question to know whether the non-classical aspects of quantum mechanics play a fundamental role in biological processes at all. It is for instance an open question to know whether or not quantum coherence must be invoked in order to explain intra-cellular processes. Nothing illustrates better the present situation than this quote of Wiseman and Eisert (2007): “When you have excluded the trivial, whatever remains, however, improbable, must be a good topic for a debate”. . ..

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Durt, T. Anthropomorphic Quantum Darwinism as an Explanation for Classicality. Found Sci 15, 177–197 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-010-9173-z

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