Comment on 'Quantum Solution to the Arrow-of Time Dilemma' of L. Maccone

摘要

A recent letter by Maccone presents a solution based on the existing laws of quantum mechanics to the arrow-of-time dilemma. He argues that all phenomena in which the entropy decreases must not leave any information (in the observer's memory) of their having occurred because the observer is a part of the whole system. Maccone concludes that quantum mechanics is necessary to his argument, which he believes does not otherwise work in classical mechanics. This Comment consists of four parts. We discuss the basic problems in the first part. This Comment and the previously published Comment by Jennings and Rudolph describes flaws in Maccone's arguments. However, the main argument (erasure of the observer's memory), which was previously formulated in our work and was repeated by Maccone, is correct under the conditions described in this Comment. Moreover, this argument can be used to resolve a reduction paradox (the Schrodinger's Cat paradox) in quantum mechanics. This use is demonstrated in the second part. In the third part, the synchronisation (decoherence) of time arrows is discussed. In the fourth part, the synchronisation (decoherence) of time arrows in quantum gravity is considered.