Why We Don't Need Quantum Planetary Dynamics: Decoherence and the Correspondence Principle for Chaotic Systems
Quantum Physics
2007-05-23 v1
Abstract
Violation of correspondence principle may occur for very macroscopic byt isolated quantum systems on rather short timescales as illustrated by the case of Hyperion, the chaotically tumbling moon of Saturn, for which quantum and classical predictions are expected to diverge on a timescale of approximately 20 years. Motivated by Hyperion, we review salient features of ``quantum chaos'' and show that decoherence is the essential ingredient of the classical limit, as it enables one to solve the apparent paradox caused by the breakdown of the correspondence principle for classically chaotic systems.
Cite
@article{arxiv.quant-ph/9612037,
title = {Why We Don't Need Quantum Planetary Dynamics: Decoherence and the Correspondence Principle for Chaotic Systems},
author = {Wojciech Hubert Zurek and Juan Pablo Paz},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/9612037},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
13 pages, Plain TeX, no figures; to appear in the Proceedings of the Fourth Drexel Meeting (held in September 1994)