Quantum transport in mesoscopic systems and the measurement problem

Abstract

We study noninvasive measurement of stationary currents in mesoscopic systems. It is shown that the measurement process is fully described by the Schr\"odinger equation without any additional reduction postulate and without the introduction of an observer. Nevertheless the possibility of observing a particular state out of coherent superposition leads to collapse of the wave function, even though the measured system is not distorted by interaction with the detector. Experimental consequences are discussed.