Measurement as emergent quantum phenomena

Department of Physics,
Loughborough University,
Loughborough, Leics LE11 3TU,
United Kingdom

We explore, within a purely quantum mechanical framework, the possibility that the act of
forming a measurement record of the state of a quantum system can be explained simply as an
emergent phenomena. We elucidate this view using a toy model comprising a non-linear measurement device or meter (modelled quantum mechanically) coupled to a quantum object (to be measured).
We show that measurement records in the meter emerge when we increase the numbers of degrees of freedom of the system - which we do by introducing a decohering environment.

Mark Everitt started his career in the Quantum Circuits Group at the University of Sussex
with the intention of designing devices to manipulate quantum information (this remains an
ongoing interest). He spent a number of years in Egypt pioneering there the provision of
research led British style higher education. Now at Loughborough his interests are in applications
and foundations of quantum mechanics and measurement theory.