Decoherence and the quantumtoclassical transition maximilian schlosshauer springer, new york, 2007. The ultimate introduction, textbook, and reference on decoherence and the quantum to classical transition. I also discuss methods for mitigating decoherence in quantum information processing and describe selected experimental. Decoherence has been hailed as the solution to longstanding foundational. Decoherence and the quantumtoclassical transition springerlink.
Enter your mobile number or email address below and well send you a link to download the free kindle app. Download citation decoherence and the quantumtoclassical transition thesis ph. We calculate also the decoherence time and show that it has the same scale as the time after which statistical fluctuations become comparable with quantum fluctuations. Decoherence and the transition from quantum to classicalrevisited.
Decoherence in the energy basis is achieved by applying random spectral phases on the photons. First, key features of the decoherence program are clarified, and implications. I also discuss methods for mitigating decoherence in quantum information processing and describe selected experimental investigations of. Then you can start reading kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer no kindle device required. Buy decoherence and the quantumtoclassical transition the frontiers collection on.
Maniscalco turku centre for quantum physics, department of physics and astronomy, university of turku, fi20014 turun yliopisto, finland. Quantum entanglement plays a fundamental role in quantum metrology. Decoherence and the quantumtoclassical transition book. This detailed but accessible text describes the concepts, formalism, interpretation, and experimental observation of decoherence and explains how decoherence is responsible for the emergence, from the realm of quantum mechanics, of the classical world of our experience. I will describe three insights into the transition from quantum to classical. In this thesis, i will examine the theory of decoherence, as well as the criticisms it generated. Buy decoherence and the quantumtoclassical transition the frontiers collection. The fundamental problem of the transition from quantum to classical physics is usually explained by decoherence, and viewed as a gradual process. The important contribution is a stochastic, temperaturedependent interaction leading to decoherence. Quantum mechanics works exceedingly well in all practical applications. Decoherence, the measurement problem, and interpretations.
Decoherence is the study of interactions between a quantum system generally a very small number of microscopic particles like electrons, photons, atoms, molecules, etc. The quantumclassical transition yeshiva university. The study of entanglement, or quantum correlations, in noisy quantum computers implies that in some cases the transition from quantum to classical is actually a phase transition. The cosmic microwave background is a constant source of lowenergy photons. Maximilian schlosshauer, decoherence and the quantumtoclassical transition springer, berlin, 2007. Sudden transition between classical and quantum decoherence l. The role of decoherence was recognized by a wide spectrum of practicing physicists as well as, beyond physics proper, by material scientists and philosophers. Decoherence affects both coherence and entanglement of open systems. The analysis of a decoherencebased quantumtoclassical transition is approached from four different points of view. His postgraduate research with arthur fine was focused on decoherence and the quantum to classical transition. Decoherence and the transition from quantum to classical the environment surrounding a quantum system con, in effect, monitor some of the systems obsertables.
From a conceptual perspective, the underlying idea behind this phenomenon is that every system is never isolated from an unmonitored environment, whatever care the experimentalist is putting in the design of their experiment. Bohrs doctrine of classical concepts, emergent classicality, and decoherence schlosshauer and camilleri april 10, 2008 xarqiv. His postgraduate research with arthur fine was focused on decoherence and the quantumtoclassical transition. The environment surrounding a quantum system can, in effect, monitor some of the systems observables. This item appears in the following collections faculty of science 271. He is currently an australian research council postdoctoral fellow in the department of physics at the university of melbourne, australia. Decoherence and the quantumtoclassical transition by. The transition from quantum to classical behaviour of the considered system is analysed and it is shown that the classicality takes place during a finite interval of time. On divergence of decoherence factor in quantum cosmology. Decoherence and the quantum theory of the classical ictp colloquium. Quantum decoherence is the loss of quantum coherence. It is built on the principle embraced by families who outgrow their dwellings and decide to add a few. Technically demanding experiments have helped to explore some aspects of this question, including the scaling of decoherence and disentangling with the size of the system, which is related to the number of its. It is now widely accepted that environmental entanglement and the resulting decoherence processes play a crucial role in the quantumtoclassical transition and the emergence of classicality from quantum mechanics.
The first is a dissipative term, whose influence on the quantum to classical transition is usually considered negligible. Decoherence theorists say that the quantumtoclassical transition occurs because of interactions with the environment, for example everpresent thermal photons. First, key features of the decoherence program are clarified, and implications of decoherence for the quantum measurement problem and for the existing interpretations of quantum mechanics are extensively discussed. Schlosshauer, now a postdoctoral fellow in melbourne, australia, has written an excellent monograph about what the best current thoughts are on the link between quantum and classical physics. Studies in history and philosophy of modern physics, 40 1. Almost a century after it first engaged physicists, the relationship between quantum mechanics and classical physics remains problematic. To discuss the quantum to classical transition in quantum cosmology, we study the decoherence factor and the peak of the wigner function, which respectively represent the degree of decoherence and the degree to which the classical motion of the universe is defined, in a robertsonwalker universe model coupled with a scalar field. As a result, the eigenstates of those observables continuously decohere and can behave like classical states. Quantum optics and cavity quantum electrodynamics have allowed detailed investigations of this phenomenon, within the framework of microwaves and. Decoherence and the transition from quantum to classical, phys. Larger interfering quantum objects are also vulnerable to decoherence, which is believed to wash out quantum behavior and drive the transition from quantum to classical systems 9 10 11. I give a pedagogical overview of decoherence and its role in providing a dynamical account of the quantumtoclassical transition. Maximilian schlosshauer, decoherence and the quantumto.
As o result, the eigenstates of those observables continuously decohere and can behave like classical states. Decoherence and the quantumtoclassical transition springer. No example of conflict between its predictions and experiment is known. Framework for a general discussion of environmentally induced classical properties, like superselection rules, privileged basis and classical behavior, in quantum systems with both finite and infinite number of degrees of freedom is proposed. The quantumtoclassical transition occurs when you add more and more particles to a quantum system. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
This paper gives an overview of the theory and experimental observation of the decoherence mechanism. In this paper the authors propose, and experimentally realize a scheme to control the transition from quantum to classical. Decoherence and the transition from quantum to classical the environment surrounding a quantum system can, in effect, monitor some of the systems observobles. Isbn 9783540357735 almost a century after it first engaged physicists, the relationship between quantum mechanics and classical physics remains problematic.
The most wellknown attempt to explain the quantumtoclassical transition is decoherence, which is the idea that interactions with the environment destroy quantum coherence, causing a quantum. I give a pedagogical overview of decoherence and its role in providing a dynamical account of the quantum to classical transition. The quantumtoclassical transition and decoherence arxiv. Zurek quantum mechanics works exceedingly well in all practi. Quantum theory is the current framework that is used to understand the. Decoherence is our best physical mechanism to understand this quantum to classical transition. The ultimate introduction, textbook, and reference on decoherence and the quantumtoclassical transition. Decoherence and the transition from quantum to classical. And the quantumtoclassical transition frontiers collection the frontiers collection 1st ed. Decoherence offers a theoretical framework in which the measurement problem can be swept under the carpet pushed into a system larger than that which we can observe.
As a result, the eigenstates of these observables continuously decohere and can behave like classical states. Let us finally discuss how this generic nonmonotonicity of manyparticle interference signals in correlation functions such as p n. Decoherence and the quantumtoclassical transition the. This detailed but accessible text describes the concepts, formalism, interpretation, and experimental observation of decoherence and explains how decoherence is responsible for the emergence, from the realm of quantum mechanics, of the. However, \decoherence is now often used for a much more general idea, namely that of the environmentinduced decoherence program, referring not only to the e ect of decoherence itself, but also referring to its main cause, the ubiquitous and almost unavoidable. Decoherence and the quantum theory of the classical ictp. Quantum decoherence and classical correlations of the.
Autonomous quantum to classical transitions and the. Yet well over half a century after its inception, the debate about. Decoherence and the quantumtoclassical transition for. I also discuss methods for mitigating decoherence in quantum information. Observing the transition from quantum to classical energy. To begin with, the latter is generally observed in the interference of. In quantum mechanics, particles such as electrons are described by a wave function, a mathematical representation of the quantum state of a system. Electronic publications 80307 freely accessible full text publications plus those not yet available due to embargo. Without quantum physics we could not explain the behavior of solids, the structure and function of dna, the color of the stars, the action of lasers or the properties of superfluids.
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