0211184v2

related topics
{time, decoherence, evolution}
{energy, gaussian, time}
{classical, space, random}
{time, wave, function}
{equation, function, exp}
{particle, mechanics, theory}
{phase, path, phys}
{wave, scattering, interference}
{temperature, thermal, energy}
{field, particle, equation}
{theory, mechanics, state}
{vol, operators, histories}
{entanglement, phys, rev}
{state, states, coherent}
{cavity, atom, atoms}

Semiclassical Theory of Coherence and Decoherence

Gregory A. Fiete, Eric J. Heller

abstract: A general semiclassical approach to quantum systems with system-bath interactions is developed. We study system decoherence in detail using a coherent state semiclassical wavepacket method which avoids singularity issues arising in the usual Green's function approach. We discuss the general conditions under which it is approximately correct to discuss quantum decoherence in terms of a ``dephasing'' picture and we derive semiclassical expressions for the phase and phase distribution. Remarkably, an effective system wavefunction emerges whose norm measures the decoherence and is equivalent to a density matrix formulation.

oai_identifier:
oai:arXiv.org:quant-ph/0211184
categories:
quant-ph cond-mat.mes-hall
comments:
11 pages, 2 figures. Considerable restructuring of paper
doi:
10.1103/PhysRevA.68.022112
arxiv_id:
quant-ph/0211184
journal_ref:
Phys. Rev. A 68, 022112 (2003)
report_no:
NSF-KITP-04-46
created:
2002-11-27
updated:
2003-06-24

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