Stochastic final-state dynamics of widening entanglement - a possible description of quantum measurement

The measurement process of quantum mechanics is analysed in the scattering theory of quantum field theory. A matrix of bilinear forms of the scattering amplitudes (the R-matrix) is used as the basic descriptive tool. The measurement process is viewed as a final-state interaction described through a series of linear stochastic mappings of the R-matrix, not changing the observable to be measured. The unknown details of the measurement apparatus enter through the stochasticity of the mappings. Although linear in terms of the R-matrix, the mappings are nonlinear in the density matrix, which is obtainable from the R-matrix through normalization. The eigenstates of the observable are the attractors of the mapping process. This result, known from previous generalizations of quantum mechanics, is obtained here within linear quantum mechanics. The conclusion is that the measurement process can be understood within relativistic quantum field theory itself without any generalization or metatheory