The Illusory Appeal of Decoherence in the Everettian Picture: Affirming the Consequent

Understand

The idea that decoherence in a unitary-only quantum theory suffices to explain emergence of classical phenomena has been shown in the peer-reviewed literature to be seriously flawed due to circularity.

• However, claims continue to be made that this approach, also known as "Quantum Darwinism," is the correct way to understand classical emergence.
• This Letter reviews the basic problem and points out an additional logical flaw in the argument.
• It is concluded that the "Quantum Darwinism" program fails.