Physics – Quantum Physics
Scientific paper
2002-10-02
In: Heinz-Peter Breuer and Francesco Petruccione (Eds.), Relativistic quantum measurement and decoherence, Lecture Notes in Ph
Physics
Quantum Physics
35 pages, 2 figures
Scientific paper
The processes of radiation damping and decoherence in Quantum Electrodynamics are studied from an open system's point of view. Employing functional techniques of field theory, the degrees of freedom of the radiation field are eliminated to obtain the influence phase functional which describes the reduced dynamics of the matter variables. The general theory is applied to the dynamics of a single electron in the radiation field. From a study of the wave packet dynamics a quantitative measure for the degree of decoherence, the decoherence function, is deduced. The latter is shown to describe the emergence of decoherence through the emission of bremsstrahlung caused by the relative motion of interfering wave packets. It is argued that this mechanism is the most fundamental process in Quantum Electrodynamics leading to the destruction of coherence, since it dominates for short times and because it is at work even in the electromagnetic field vacuum at zero temperature. It turns out that decoherence trough bremsstrahlung is very small for single electrons but extremely large for superpositions of many-particle states.
Breuer Heinz-Peter
Petruccione Francesco
No associations
LandOfFree
Radiation damping and decoherence in quantum electrodynamics does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Radiation damping and decoherence in quantum electrodynamics, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Radiation damping and decoherence in quantum electrodynamics will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-165375