Quantum measurement via Born-Oppenheimer adiabatic dynamics - art. no. 012111

The Born-Oppenheimer adiabatic approximation is used to describe the dynami c realization of wave-function collapse in quantum measurement. In the adia batic limit, it is shown that the wave function of the total system formed by the measured quantum system plus the measuring apparatus can be factoriz ed as an entangled state with correlation between adiabatic quantum states and quasiclassical motion configurations of the large system. When the appa ratus effectively behaves as a classical object, this adiabatic entanglemen t leads to the wave-function collapse, which creates an ideal quantum measu rement process.