Decoherence rate of mass superpositions

Acta Physica Polonica B

Volumn 27, Issue 8, 1996, Pages 1915-1920

  Stodolsky, L ^a  

^a MAX PLANCK INSTITUT FÜR PHYSIK   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0347906510     PISSN: 05874254     EISSN: None     Source Type: Conference Proceeding    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (5)

1. For a review of these concepts see L. Stodolsky, Quantum Damping and Its Paradoxes in: Quantum Coherence, ed. J.S. Anandan, World Scientific, Singapore 1990.
2. R.A. Harris, L. Stodolsky, J. Chem. Phys. 74, 2145 (1981).
3. For a derivation of such expressions under general conditions see G. Raffelt, G. Sigl, L. Stodolsky, Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2363 (1993). Here we use Eq. (12) of Ref. [1] in impact parameter form.
4. Students of thermodynamics will recognize that there is a familiar case where we have complete decoherence of the energy and no time evolution: ideal thermal equilibrium. There the density matrix is diagonal in the energy, meaning no coherence between different energies. However, as is clear at least from the considerations of this note, such a state is a rather formal concept and could only be reached in a very long time.
5. L. Stodolsky, Gen. Relativ. Gravitation 11, 391 (1979).