- #1
Feeble Wonk
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The concept of environmental decoherence has been a perpetual thorn in my brain despite an embarrassing amount of time contemplating the idea. At this point, I'm not even sure if I understand what it is purported to resolve. In many ways, it seems to me to be primarily a theory about logical set limitations rather than a mechanism by which a particular quantum state is determined. Sadly, my mathematical inadequacies continue to pose an obstruction to discussing this in terms that you physicists are comfortable with. So, I'd like to try this via an example of decoherence that I've seen cited multiple times in the past.
The precise location of a cosmic dust particle in space is said to be determined, through decoherence, by interacting with just a few photons. First, I'd like to clarify a couple of points that I'm curious about. In what sort of time frame do the involved photon interactions need to occur to achieve decoherence induced localization?
The precise location of a cosmic dust particle in space is said to be determined, through decoherence, by interacting with just a few photons. First, I'd like to clarify a couple of points that I'm curious about. In what sort of time frame do the involved photon interactions need to occur to achieve decoherence induced localization?