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A Review of the Decoherent Histories Approach to Quantum Mechanics a
Author(s) -
HALLIWELL J. J.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1995.tb39014.x
Subject(s) - annals , citation , library science , computer science , history , classics
I review the decoherent (or consistent) histories approach to quantummechanics, due to Griffiths, to Gell-Mann and Hartle, and to Omnes. This is anapproach to standard quantum theory specifically designed to apply to genuinelyclosed systems, up to and including the entire universe. It does not depend onan assumed separation of classical and quantum domains, on notions ofmeasurement, or on collapse of the wave function. Its primary aim is to findsets of histories for closed systems exhibiting negligble interference, andtherefore, to which probabilities may be assigned. Such sets of histories arecalled consistent or decoherent, and may be manipulated according to the rulesof ordinary (Boolean) logic. The approach provides a framework from which onemay predict the emergence of an approximately classical domain for macroscopicsystems, together with the conventional Copenhagen quantum mechanics formicroscropic subsystems. In the special case in which the total closed systemnaturally separates into a distinguished subsystem coupled to an environment,the decoherent histories approach is closed related to the quantum statediffusion approach of Gisin and Percival.Comment: 28 pages (plain Tex), Imperial College preprint 93-94/5