Vestiges of quantum oscillations in the open evolution of semiclassical states

A single wave component of a quantum particle can in principle be detected by the way that it interferes with itself, that is, through the local wave function correlation. The interpretation as the expectation of a local translation operator allows this measure of quantum wavyness to be followed thr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of physics. A, Mathematical and theoretical Vol. 50; no. 24; pp. 245302 - 245318
Main Author Ozorio de Almeida, A M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published IOP Publishing 16.06.2017
Subjects
decoherence
local correlations
phase space
positivity of the Wigner function
semiclassical approximations
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Summary:A single wave component of a quantum particle can in principle be detected by the way that it interferes with itself, that is, through the local wave function correlation. The interpretation as the expectation of a local translation operator allows this measure of quantum wavyness to be followed through the process of decoherence in open quantum systems. This is here assumed to be Markovian, determined by Lindblad operators that are linear in position and momentum. The limitation of small averaging windows and even smaller correlation lengths simplifies the semiclassical theory for the evolving local correlation. Its spectrum has a peak for each classical momentum, subjected to Gaussian broadening with decoherence. These spectral lines can be clearly resolved even after the Wigner function has become positive: the correlations located far from caustics seem to be the last vestige of quantum oscilations.
Bibliography:JPhysA-107295.R1
ISSN:1751-8113
1751-8121
DOI:10.1088/1751-8121/aa6b8f