Robustness in quantum measurements

Conditions are formulated under which a representation of an intrinsic C*‐ algebra of (often quasilocal) observables of an infinite system is appropriate to describe measurement‐type processes: such a representation should allow for the description of robust experiments, it should be separable, and the pointer observable should be in its weak closure. If the pointer values are discrete the existence of such a measurement representation can be proven. If the pointer can take continuously many values, then the existence can only be proven under the additional assumptions of having an asymptotically Abelian system or dealing with type I representations. In the constructed measurement representations the pointer observable turns out to be classical. The structure of the representation suggests that spontaneous symmetry breaking might be a physical explanation of the emergence of the classical pointer.