'Einselection' of Pointer Observables: The New H-Theorem?

TL;DR

This paper critiques the assumptions behind environment-induced superselection (einselection) in Everettian quantum mechanics, arguing that it presupposes the very irreversibility and basis selection it aims to derive, thus remaining circular.

Contribution

It highlights the circular reasoning in deriving einselection within Everettian frameworks, questioning the assumption of distinguishable environmental subsystems.

Findings

Einselection presupposes irreversibility, leading to circular reasoning.

The universe's unitary dynamics do not justify environmental basis selection.

The basis ambiguity problem remains unresolved in Everettian interpretations.

Abstract

In attempting to derive irreversible macroscopic thermodynamics from reversible microscopic dynamics, Boltzmann inadvertently smuggled in a premise that assumed the very irreversibility he was trying to prove: 'molecular chaos.' The program of 'Einselection' (environmentally induced superselection) within Everettian approaches faces a similar 'Loschmidt's Paradox': the universe, according to the Everettian picture, is a closed system obeying only unitary dynamics, and it therefore contains no distinguishable environmental subsystems with the necessary phase randomness to effect einselection of a pointer observable. The theoretically unjustified assumption of distinguishable environmental subsystems is the hidden premise that makes the derivation of einselection circular. In effect, it presupposes the 'emergent' structures from the beginning. Thus the problem of basis ambiguity remains unsolved in Everettian interpretations.