%0 Journal Article
%T No Quantum Process Can Explain the Existence of the Preferred Basis: Decoherence Is Not Universal
%A Hitoshi Inamori
%J Journal of Quantum Information Science
%P 214-222
%@ 2162-576X
%D 2016
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/jqis.2016.63014
%X Environment induced decoherence, and other quantum processes, have been proposed in the literature to explain the apparent spontaneous selection¡ªout of the many mathematically eligible bases¡ªof a privileged measurement basis that corresponds to what we actually observe. This paper describes such processes, and demonstrates that¡ªcontrary to common belief¡ªno such process can actually lead to a preferred basis in general. The key observation is that environment induced decoherence implicitly assumes a prior independence of the observed system, the observer and the environment. However, such independence cannot be guaranteed, and we show that environment induced decoherence does not succeed in establishing a preferred measurement basis in general. We conclude that the existence of the preferred basis must be postulated in quantum mechanics, and that changing the basis for a measurement is, and must be, described as an actual physical process.
%K Quantum Mechanics
%K Measurement
%K Preferred Basis
%K Entanglement
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=70108