1209.0261 (Shunichi Muto)

Decoherence during time evolution by Schroedinger equation    [PDF]

Shunichi Muto

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 decoherence of the state, more precisely the loss of coherence, is literally the loss of ability of interference. The loss of superposition of states is just apparent or even superfacial. Applications of this example in its relation to many-world interpretation of observation of a quantum state, decoherence in usual cases, and weak collapse of wavepackets are discussed.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1209.0261