H. Dieter Zeh — Wikipedia Summary

Heinz-Dieter Zeh (8 May 1932 - 15 April 2018) was a German theoretical physicist, professor emeritus of the University of Heidelberg. Known for formalizing the theory of quantum decoherence.

Career

Born in Braunschweig. Studied physics at Technical University of Braunschweig; nuclear physics at University of Heidelberg under J. Hans D. Jensen. PhD thesis on alpha particle formation (with Hans Jörg Mang). Research assistant at Caltech (1964-65) and UC San Diego (1965, 1967-68); then professor in Heidelberg.

Research

Seminal 1970 paper on the interpretation of measurement in quantum theory: showed the environment plays a major role in recovering the classical limit from quantum mechanics. With Olaf Kübler (1973) explained using reduced density matrices why coherent states are the most classical states and why quantum superposition can never be observed. His work provided a solution to the preferred basis problem. One of the founding papers of the many-minds interpretation. The term “decoherence” was not used until 1989; first experimental demonstrations around 1996 (Serge Haroche, David Wineland - 2012 Nobel Prize).

Connection to MWI

Zeh came to the same conclusions as Everett before reading his work, then built quantum decoherence theory based on these ideas. Decoherence is the mechanism modern MWI uses to explain the emergence of the quasi-classical world and the subjective appearance of collapse.