Dissipation and decoherence in a quantum oscillator
Abstract
The time development of the reduced density matrix for a quantum oscillator damped by coupling it to an ohmic environment is calculated via an identity of the Debye-Waller form. Results obtained some years ago by Hakim and the author in the free particle limit [1] are thus recovered. The evolution of a free particle in a prepared initial state is examined, and a previously published exchange [2,3] is illuminated with figures showing no decoherence without dissipation. [1] V. Hakim and V. Ambegaokar, Phys. Rev. A 32, 423 (1985). [2] G.W. Ford and R.F. O'Connell, Phys. Rev. A 70, 026102 (2004). [3] D. Gobert, J. von Delft, and V. Ambegaokar, Phys. Rev. A 70, 0261001 (2004).
Cite
@article{arxiv.quant-ph/0506087,
title = {Dissipation and decoherence in a quantum oscillator},
author = {Vinay Ambegaokar},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/0506087},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
To appear in the Journal of Statistical Physics (Langer-Hohenberg issue.) Accepted version with minor corrections and revisions