Abstract
The aim of these lectures is to investigate the transfer of information occurring in course of quantum interactions. In particular, I shall explore circumstances in which such an information transfer with the quantum environment of the considered quantum system leads to the destruction of the phase coherence between the states of the privileged basis in the system Hilbert space. This basis shall be called the pointer basis. I shall argue that states of this pointer basis correspond to the “classical” states of the observables of the quantum system in question.
[Heisenberg] . . remarks . . that even in the case of microscopic phenomena we may say, in a certain sense, that they are created by repeated observations. . .
[Niels Bohr1, in 1928 Nature article]
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Zurek, W.H. (1983). Information Transfer in Quantum Measurements: Irreversibility and Amplification. In: Meystre, P., Scully, M.O. (eds) Quantum Optics, Experimental Gravity, and Measurement Theory. NATO Advanced Science Institutes Series, vol 94. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3712-6_5
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