Towards objectivity of classical reference frames in quantum mechanics

TL;DR

This paper explores how complex information like Cartesian reference frames can become objective in quantum mechanics, extending the concept beyond simple observables and linking it to modern geometric foundations.

Contribution

It demonstrates that reference frames, with their gauge structure, can achieve partial objectivity in quantum mechanics, broadening the scope of quantum-to-classical transition understanding.

Findings

Reference frames can be made partially objective in quantum mechanics.

The gauge structure of reference frames influences their objectivity.

This work links quantum objectivity to geometric principles.

Abstract

Recent advances in our understanding of foundations of quantum mechanics have shown that information can be made objective through quantum states. Such objectification processes, predicted e.g. in a variety of quantum open systems, must accompany any realistic quantum-to-classical transition mechanism in order to reproduce the objective character of the classical limit of our world. However, so far only examples of simple, unstructured information, such as a value of an observable, have been studied. In this work we show that a more complicated form of information, given by a Cartesian reference frame, can also be made (at least partially) objective in quantum mechanics. The non-trivial internal gauge structure of reference frames, given by the transformation group, leads to a more general form of objectivity, where all observers see the same but modulo their relative orientations, like it happens in modern understanding of geometry. This opens a way to extend quantum objectivity beyond simple scenarios and possibly link it to the foundations of modern geometry.