Beyond Copenhagen: Following the Trail of Decoherence in Feynman's Light Microscope (2508.13385v1)

Abstract: Feynman's light microscope invites us to reconsider what we thought we knew about quantum reality. Rather than invoking wavefunction collapse to predict the loss of fringes in a monitored interferometer, Feynman analyzes the problem in terms of a disturbance. This approach raises the question of whether the classical world, including its localized particles and definite measurement outcomes, might emerge as the universe evolves smoothly according to \ss. Treating the particle and its environment as an entangled system, unmodified quantum mechanics shows remarkable success toward this end. This is the purview of decoherence theory. The question of wavefunction collapse then becomes one of what we want from the theory. Do we expect it to describe microscopic reality, or do we consider it to be only a tool for predicting measurement outcomes? Both options are uncomfortable. When applied to unmodified quantum mechanics, the first implies that each moment in time branches into a vast number of divergent macroscopic realities. While the second represents, for most practitioners, a weakened view of science. This article is written to be accessible to anyone with an undergraduate course in quantum mechanics.