Physics:Quantum measurement problem - Revision history

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	Steven Weinberg summarized the issue by asking why, if observers and measuring devices are also physical systems described by quantum theory, the theory predicts only probabilities for measurement outcomes rather than precise results.<ref name=Weinberg>{{cite book \|title=The Oxford History of the Twentieth Century \|first=Steven \|last=Weinberg \|chapter=The Great Reduction: Physics in the Twentieth Century \|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryoft00howa/page/26 26] \|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGvbAApi2roC&pg=PA22 \|isbn=0-19-820428-0 \|year=1998 \|publisher=Oxford University Press \|editor1=Michael Howard \|name-list-style=amp \|editor2=William Roger Louis \|url-access=registration \|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryoft00howa/page/26 }}</ref><ref name=Weinberg2>{{cite journal \|last=Weinberg \|first=Steven \|title=Einstein's Mistakes \|journal=Physics Today \|date=November 2005 \|volume=58 \|issue=11 \|pages=31–35 \|bibcode=2005PhT....58k..31W \|doi=10.1063/1.2155755 \|s2cid=120594692 \|doi-access=free }}</ref> More broadly, the measurement problem asks how quantum reality gives rise to the classical world of definite experimental records.<ref name=Zurek>{{cite journal \|last1=Zurek \|first1=Wojciech Hubert \|title=Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical \|journal=Reviews of Modern Physics \|date=22 May 2003 \|volume=75 \|issue=3 \|pages=715–775 \|arxiv=quant-ph/0105127 \|bibcode=2003RvMP...75..715Z \|doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.75.715 \|s2cid=14759237 }}</ref>		Steven Weinberg summarized the issue by asking why, if observers and measuring devices are also physical systems described by quantum theory, the theory predicts only probabilities for measurement outcomes rather than precise results.<ref name=Weinberg>{{cite book \|title=The Oxford History of the Twentieth Century \|first=Steven \|last=Weinberg \|chapter=The Great Reduction: Physics in the Twentieth Century \|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryoft00howa/page/26 26] \|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGvbAApi2roC&pg=PA22 \|isbn=0-19-820428-0 \|year=1998 \|publisher=Oxford University Press \|editor1=Michael Howard \|name-list-style=amp \|editor2=William Roger Louis \|url-access=registration \|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryoft00howa/page/26 }}</ref><ref name=Weinberg2>{{cite journal \|last=Weinberg \|first=Steven \|title=Einstein's Mistakes \|journal=Physics Today \|date=November 2005 \|volume=58 \|issue=11 \|pages=31–35 \|bibcode=2005PhT....58k..31W \|doi=10.1063/1.2155755 \|s2cid=120594692 \|doi-access=free }}</ref> More broadly, the measurement problem asks how quantum reality gives rise to the classical world of definite experimental records.<ref name=Zurek>{{cite journal \|last1=Zurek \|first1=Wojciech Hubert \|title=Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical \|journal=Reviews of Modern Physics \|date=22 May 2003 \|volume=75 \|issue=3 \|pages=715–775 \|arxiv=quant-ph/0105127 \|bibcode=2003RvMP...75..715Z \|doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.75.715 \|s2cid=14759237 }}</ref>
	~~<div style="float:right; border:1px solid #e0d890; background:#fff8cc; padding:6px; margin:0 0 1em 1em; width:360px;">~~
	~~<div style="font-size:90%;">The measurement problem asks how a quantum superposition becomes a definite observed outcome.</div>~~
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	[[File:Quantum_measurement_problem_yellow.png\|thumb\|280px\|~~Quantum~~ measurement problem.]]		[[File:Quantum_measurement_problem_yellow.png\|thumb\|280px\|The measurement problem asks how a quantum superposition becomes a definite observed outcome.]]
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	'''Quantum measurement problem''' is the problem of explaining how definite measurement outcomes arise from the mathematical structure of [[Physics:Quantum mechanics\|quantum mechanics]]. In ordinary quantum theory, the state of a system may evolve as a linear superposition of alternatives, while an actual experiment records one definite result. The problem is to explain how the formal quantum description is connected with the classical facts registered by measuring devices.		'''Quantum measurement problem''' is the problem of explaining how definite measurement outcomes arise from the mathematical structure of [[Physics:Quantum mechanics\|quantum mechanics]]. In ordinary quantum theory, the state of a system may evolve as a linear superposition of alternatives, while an actual experiment records one definite result. The problem is to explain how the formal quantum description is connected with the classical facts registered by measuring devices.

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	'''Quantum measurement problem''' is the problem of explaining how definite measurement outcomes arise from the mathematical structure of [[Physics:Quantum mechanics\|quantum mechanics]]. In ordinary quantum theory, the state of a system may evolve as a linear superposition of alternatives, while an actual experiment records one definite result. The problem is to explain how the formal quantum description is connected with the classical facts registered by measuring devices.		'''Quantum measurement problem''' is the problem of explaining how definite measurement outcomes arise from the mathematical structure of [[Physics:Quantum mechanics\|quantum mechanics]]. In ordinary quantum theory, the state of a system may evolve as a linear superposition of alternatives, while an actual experiment records one definite result. The problem is to explain how the formal quantum description is connected with the classical facts registered by measuring devices.

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	Steven Weinberg summarized the issue by asking why, if observers and measuring devices are also physical systems described by quantum theory, the theory predicts only probabilities for measurement outcomes rather than precise results.<ref name=Weinberg>{{cite book \|title=The Oxford History of the Twentieth Century \|first=Steven \|last=Weinberg \|chapter=The Great Reduction: Physics in the Twentieth Century \|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryoft00howa/page/26 26] \|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGvbAApi2roC&pg=PA22 \|isbn=0-19-820428-0 \|year=1998 \|publisher=Oxford University Press \|editor1=Michael Howard \|name-list-style=amp \|editor2=William Roger Louis \|url-access=registration \|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryoft00howa/page/26 }}</ref><ref name=Weinberg2>{{cite journal \|last=Weinberg \|first=Steven \|title=Einstein's Mistakes \|journal=Physics Today \|date=November 2005 \|volume=58 \|issue=11 \|pages=31–35 \|bibcode=2005PhT....58k..31W \|doi=10.1063/1.2155755 \|s2cid=120594692 \|doi-access=free }}</ref> More broadly, the measurement problem asks how quantum reality gives rise to the classical world of definite experimental records.<ref name=Zurek>{{cite journal \|last1=Zurek \|first1=Wojciech Hubert \|title=Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical \|journal=Reviews of Modern Physics \|date=22 May 2003 \|volume=75 \|issue=3 \|pages=715–775 \|arxiv=quant-ph/0105127 \|bibcode=2003RvMP...75..715Z \|doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.75.715 \|s2cid=14759237 }}</ref>		Steven Weinberg summarized the issue by asking why, if observers and measuring devices are also physical systems described by quantum theory, the theory predicts only probabilities for measurement outcomes rather than precise results.<ref name=Weinberg>{{cite book \|title=The Oxford History of the Twentieth Century \|first=Steven \|last=Weinberg \|chapter=The Great Reduction: Physics in the Twentieth Century \|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryoft00howa/page/26 26] \|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGvbAApi2roC&pg=PA22 \|isbn=0-19-820428-0 \|year=1998 \|publisher=Oxford University Press \|editor1=Michael Howard \|name-list-style=amp \|editor2=William Roger Louis \|url-access=registration \|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryoft00howa/page/26 }}</ref><ref name=Weinberg2>{{cite journal \|last=Weinberg \|first=Steven \|title=Einstein's Mistakes \|journal=Physics Today \|date=November 2005 \|volume=58 \|issue=11 \|pages=31–35 \|bibcode=2005PhT....58k..31W \|doi=10.1063/1.2155755 \|s2cid=120594692 \|doi-access=free }}</ref> More broadly, the measurement problem asks how quantum reality gives rise to the classical world of definite experimental records.<ref name=Zurek>{{cite journal \|last1=Zurek \|first1=Wojciech Hubert \|title=Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical \|journal=Reviews of Modern Physics \|date=22 May 2003 \|volume=75 \|issue=3 \|pages=715–775 \|arxiv=quant-ph/0105127 \|bibcode=2003RvMP...75..715Z \|doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.75.715 \|s2cid=14759237 }}</ref>
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	~~[[File:Quantum_measurement_problem_yellow.png\|340px]]~~
	<div style="font-size:90%;">The measurement problem asks how a quantum superposition becomes a definite observed outcome.</div>		<div style="font-size:90%;">The measurement problem asks how a quantum superposition becomes a definite observed outcome.</div>
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			[[File:Quantum_measurement_problem_yellow.png\|thumb\|280px\|Quantum measurement problem.]]
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	== Basic issue ==		== Basic issue ==

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	{{Quantum article nav\|previous=Physics:Quantum The Secret of Cohesion and How Waves Hold Matter Together\|previous label=The Secret of Cohesion and How Waves Hold Matter Together\|next=Physics:Quantum Density matrix\|next label=Density matrix}}		{{Quantum article nav\|previous=Physics:Quantum The Secret of Cohesion and How Waves Hold Matter Together\|previous label=The Secret of Cohesion and How Waves Hold Matter Together\|next=Physics:Quantum Density matrix\|next label=Density matrix}}