The Copenhagen Interpretation as an Emergent Phenomenon

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics can naturally emerge from the underlying linear quantum world through decoherence and coarse graining, without requiring observers or classical assumptions.

Contribution

It introduces a relational, decoherence-based framework that explains the emergence of the Copenhagen interpretation from microscopic quantum laws.

Findings

Copenhagen rules emerge from decoherence and coarse graining.

Large number of degrees of freedom resolve superposition issues.

Measurement processes are explained without observers.

Abstract

The Copenhagen interpretation has been remarkably successful but seems at odds with the underlying linearity of quantum mechanics. We show how it can emerge in a simple way from the underlying microscopic quantum world governed by Schrodinger's equation without the need for observers or their brains. In order to achieve this, we assemble pieces of various pre-existing ideas. Firstly, we adopt a relational approach and use the eigenvectors of the reduced density matrix of a quantum sub-system, or equivalently the Schmidt decomposition, to define the `internal state' of a sub-system. Previous work has identified serious objections to such an interpretation because it apparently leads to macroscopic superpositions and physically unacceptable instabilities near degeneracies. We show that both these problems are solved if the sub-system consists of a large number of coarse grained degrees of freedom as one expects in order to make contact with the classical world. We further argue that coarse graining is a necessary ingredient because measuring devices have both finite spatial and temporal resolutions. What results is an interpretation in which both decoherence and coarse graining play key roles and from which the rules of the Copenhagen interpretation are seen to emerge in realistic situations that include the measurement of the position of a particle and a decay process.