Fundamental spatiotemporal decoherence: a key to solving the conceptual problems of black holes, cosmology and quantum mechanics

Abstract

Unitarity is a pillar of quantum theory. Nevertheless, it is also a source of several of its conceptual problems. We note that in a world where measurements are relational, as is the case in gravitation, quantum mechanics exhibits a fundamental level of loss of coherence. This can be the key to solving, among others, the puzzles posed by the black hole information paradox, the formation of inhomogeneities in cosmology and the measurement problem in quantum mechanics.

6 pages, Honorable Mention GRF 2006, published version

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Conditional probabilities with Dirac observables and the problem of time in quantum gravity
• Relational physics with real rods and clocks and the measurement problem of quantum mechanics
• Decoherence: a closed-system approach
• Loss of entanglement in quantum mechanics due to the use of realistic measuring rods
• Assessing the Montevideo Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
• The Montevideo Interpretation: How the inclusion of a Quantum Gravitational Notion of Time Solves the Measurement Problem
• Undecidability and the problem of outcomes in quantum measurements
• A single-world consistent interpretation of quantum mechanics from fundamental time and length uncertainties
• Gödel Incompleteness and the Black Hole Information Paradox
• A note on the quantum of time