Related papers: Symmetries, superselection rules, and decoherence
It is well known that the dynamical mechanism of decoherence may cause apparent superselection rules, like that of molecular chirality. These `environment-induced' or `soft' superselection rules may be contrasted with `hard' superselection…
The study of environmentally induced superselection and of the process of decoherence was originally motivated by the search for the emergence of classical behavior out of the quantum substrate, in the macroscopic limit. This limit, and…
The problem investigated in this paper is einselection, i. e. the selection of mutually exclusive quantum states with definite probabilities through decoherence. Its study is based on a theory of decoherence resulting from the projection…
The roles of decoherence and environment-induced superselection in the emergence of the classical from the quantum substrate are described. The stability of correlations between the einselected quantum pointer states and the environment…
Environment induced decoherence entails the absence of quantum interference phenomena from the macroworld. The loss of coherence between superposed wave packets depends on their separation. The precise temporal course depends on the…
The process of dynamical decoherence may cause apparent superselection rules, which are sometimes called `environmentally induced' or `soft'. A natural question is whether such dynamical processes are eventually also responsible for at…
We give a short, critical review of the issue of decoherence. We establish the most general framework in which decoherence can be discussed, how it can be quantified and how it can be measured. We focus on environment induced decoherence…
Introduction to the theory of decoherence. Contents: 1. The phenomenon of decoherence: superpositions, superselection rules, decoherence by "measurements". 2. Observables as a derivable concept. 3. The measurement problem. 4. Density…
We give a pedagogical introduction to the process of decoherence - the irreversible emergence of classical properties through interaction with the environment. After discussing the general concepts, we present the following examples:…
Environment-induced decoherence and superselection have been a subject of intensive research over the past two decades, yet their implications for the foundational problems of quantum mechanics, most notably the quantum measurement problem,…
The environment -- external or internal degrees of freedom coupled to the system -- can, in effect, monitor some of its observables. As a result, the eigenstates of these observables decohere and behave like classical states: Continuous…
We briefly summarize the main recently obtained results concerning existence of the (effective) necessary conditions for the occurrence of the "environment-induced superselection rules" (decoherence).
A thought experiment is discussed to clarify the concept of decoherence. Superposition of states consisting of ground state of a single hydrogen atom and its excited state after a huge amount of time is discussed to show that the…
Within the decoherence theory we investigate the physical background of the condition of the separability (diagonalizability in noncorrelated basis) of the interaction Hamiltonian of the composite system, "system plus environment". It…
Physical systems in real life are inextricably linked to their surroundings and never completely separated from them. Truly closed systems do not exist. The phenomenon of decoherence, which is brought about by the interaction with the…
Superselection rules induced by the interaction with the environment are a basis to understand the emergence of classical observables within quantum theory. The aim of this article is to investigate the decoherence effects, which lead to…
We study dynamics of quantum open systems, paying special attention to those aspects of their evolution which are relevant to the transition from quantum to classical. We begin with a discussion of the conditional dynamics of simple…
It has been claimed that decoherence of open quantum systems explains the tendency of macroscopic systems to exhibit quasiclassical behavior. We show that quasiclassicality is in fact an unremarkable property, characterizing generic…
Self-interactions and interaction with the environment tend to push quantum systems toward states of maximal entanglement. This is a definition of decoherence. We argue that these maximally entangled states fall into the well-defined…
We present evidence that decoherence can produce a smooth quantum-to-classical transition in nonlinear dynamical systems. High-resolution tracking of quantum and classical evolutions reveals differences in expectation values of…