The Role of Decoherence in Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics

Abstract

Many decades have now elapsed since the famous Solvay conference of 1927 during which the elite of physicists engaged in a heated debate about the interpretation of quantum mechanics [385]. Yet, discussions about the meaning of quantum theory show no sign of abating. If one would like to go beyond a purely pragmatic “shut-up-and-calculate” approach to quantum mechanics and relate the quantum formalism to a presumed physical reality “out there,” it is virtually impossible not to get tangled up in interpretive questions. The existence of a variety of interpretations of quantum mechanics is therefore as old as quantum theory itself.