Bohmian Mechanics, Collapse Models and the emergence of Classicality

Abstract

We discuss the emergence of classical trajectories in Bohmian Mechanics (BM), when a macroscopic object interacts with an external environment. We show that in such a case the conditional wave function of the system follows a dynamics which, under reasonable assumptions, corresponds to that of the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) collapse model. As a consequence, Bohmian trajectories evolve classically. Our analysis also shows how the GRW (istantaneous) collapse process can be derived by an underlying continuous interaction of a quantum system with an external agent, thus throwing a light on how collapses can emerge from a deeper level theory.

19 pages, 2 figures