A unique description of the phenomena that arise from the interaction between quantum systems and their environment. Because of the novel character of the approach discussed, the book addresses scientists from all fields of physics and related disciplines as well as students of physics.

This thoroughly revised 5th edition of Zeh's classic text investigates irreversible phenomena and their foundation in classical, quantum and cosmological settings. It includes new sections on the meaning of probabilities in a cosmological context, irreversible aspects of quantum computers, and various consequences of the expansion of the Universe. In particular, the book offers an analysis of the physical concept of time.

This thoroughly revised 5th edition of Zeh's classic text investigates irreversible phenomena and their foundation in classical, quantum and cosmological settings. It includes new sections on the meaning of probabilities in a cosmological context, irreversible aspects of quantum computers, and various consequences of the expansion of the Universe. In particular, the book offers an analysis of the physical concept of time.

This book describes the phenomena that arise from the interaction between quantum systems and their environment. Since the first edition appeared in 1996, the concepts of decoherence have become firmly established experimentally and are now widely used in the literature. The major consequences of decoherence are the emergence of "classicality", superselection rules, the border line between microscopic and macroscopic behavior, the emergence of classical spacetime, and the appearance of quantum jumps. Most of the new developments in this rapidly evolving field are discussed in this second edition: chaos theory, quantum information, neuroscience, primordial fluctuations in cosmology, black holes and string theory, experimental tests, and interpretational issues. While the major part of the book is concerned with environmental decoherence derived from a universal Schrödinger equation, later chapters address complementary or competing approaches, such as consistent histories, open system dynamics, algebraic methods, and collapse models.

Beschreiben die Begriffe der modernen Physik tatsachlich die Realitat oder sind sie nur Hilfsmittel und Rechenwerkzeuge? Wie koennen reale Objekte aus Atomen aufgebaut sein, wenn diese angeblich gar keine realen Eigenschaften vor deren Messung besitzen? In philosophischen und meist allgemein verstandlichen Aufsatzen setzt sich der Autor - Begrunder des Dekoharenzkonzepts in der Quantentheorie - mit den "faulen Ausreden" auseinander, die Physiker finden, um unerwarteten Konsequenzen, die sich aus ihren eigenen Theorien ergeben, aus dem Weg zu gehen.