Quantum jumps, Born’s rule, and objective classical reality via quantum Darwinism
Emergence of the classical from the quantum substrate is a long-standing conundrum. The chapter describes its resolution based on three insights that stem from the recognition of the role of the environment. The chapter begins with the derivation of preferred states that define “events”, the essence of everyday classical reality. They arise from the tension between the unitary quantum dynamics and the nonlinear amplification inherent in replicating information. The resulting pointer states are consistent with these obtained via environment-induced superselection (einselection). They determine what can happen by defining events such as quantum jumps without appealing to Born’s rule for probabilities. Probabilities can be now deduced from envariance (a symmetry of entangled quantum states). With probabilities at hand one can quantify information flows accompanying decoherence. Effective amplification they represent explains perception of objective classical reality arising from within the quantum universe through redundancy of the pointer state records in their environment—through quantum Darwinism.