Decoherence in the Dirac equation
Quantum Physics
2007-05-23 v1
Abstract
A Dirac particle is represented by a unitarily evolving state vector in a Hilbert space which factors as . Motivated by the similarity to simple models of decoherence consisting of a two state system coupled to an environment, we investigate the occurence of decoherence in the Dirac equation upon tracing over position. We conclude that the physics of this mathematically exact model for decoherence is closely related to Zitterbewegung.
Cite
@article{arxiv.quant-ph/9804023,
title = {Decoherence in the Dirac equation},
author = {David A. Meyer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/9804023},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
8 pages, plain TeX, 6 PostScript figures included with epsf.tex (ignore the under/overfull \vbox error messages)