Probability, arrow of time and decoherence

Probability, Arrow of Time and Decoherence∗

This paper relates both to the metaphysics of probability and to the physics of time asymmetry. Using the formalism of decoherent histories, it investigates whether intuitions about intrinsic time directedness that are often associated with probability can be justified in the context of no-collapse approaches to quantum mechanics. The standard (two-vector) approach to time symmetry in the decoh...

Decoherence, Chaos, Quantum-classical Correspondence, and the Algorithmic Arrow of Time

The environment – external or internal degrees of freedom coupled to the system – can, in effect, monitor some of its observables. As a result, the eigenstates of these observables decohere and behave like classical states: Continuous destruction of superpositions leads to environment-induced superselection (einselection). Here I investigate it in the context of quantum chaos (i. e., quantum dy...

Decoherence functional and probability interpretation.

We confirm that the diagonal elements of the Gell-Mann and Hartle’s decoherence functional are equal to the relative frequencies of the results of many identical experiments, when a set of alternative histories decoheres. We consider both cases of the pure and mixed initial states.

Hidden Determinism, Probability, and Time’s Arrow

In present-day physics the fundamental dynamical laws are taken as a time-translation-invariant and time-reversal-invariant one-parameter groups of automorphisms of the underlying mathematical structure. In this context-independent and empirically inaccessible description there is no past, present or future, hence no distinction between cause and effect. To get the familiar description in terms...

The Arrow of Time