Against decoherence

Title: Against decoherence

Author: Ding Jia

Abstract: Decoherence is said to help us understand quantum-to-classical transition. But does it? I argue that: (1) Environment-induced-superselection does not determine the preferred basis of observation; (2) Decoherent histories failed to remove special reference to observers from quantum theory; (3) Decoherence does not give rise to quasiclassical branching worlds in Everettian quantum mechanics; (4) Decoherence does not explain quantum-to-classical transition in cosmology. Because observation supervenes on the observer but not the observed object, classical aspects of observation is explained by the physics of the observer, but not interaction of the object with its environment.

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