Scheme of a Derivation of Collapse from Quantum Dynamics II

TL;DR

This paper proposes a self-consistent mechanism for wave function collapse derived directly from the Schr"odinger equation, based on local entanglement and environmental fluctuations, challenging traditional interpretations of quantum measurement.

Contribution

It introduces a novel interpretation extending quantum dynamics to include local entanglement and environmental effects, providing a potential derivation of collapse from fundamental equations.

Findings

Local entanglement evolves nonlinearly and is distinct from quantum probabilities.

Environmental fluctuations can induce incoherence in macroscopic systems.

The proposed mechanism offers a self-consistent explanation for wave function collapse.

Abstract

Is wave function collapse a prediction of the Schr\"odinger equation? This unusual problem is explored in an enlarged framework of interpretation, where quantum dynamics is considered exact and its interpretation is extended to include local entanglement of two systems, including a macroscopic one. This property of local entanglement, which results directly from the Schr\"odinger equation but is unrelated with observables, is measured by local probabilities, fundamentally distinct from quantum probabilities and evolving nonlinearly. When applied to a macroscopic system and the fluctuations in its environment, local entanglement can also inject a formerly ignored species of incoherence into the quantum state of this system,. When applied to a quantum measurement, the conjunction of these two effects suggests a self-consistent mechanism of collapse, which would directly derive from the Schr\"odinger equation. (This work develops and improves significantly a previously circulated version with the same title [23])