Decoherence and the Appearance of a Classical World in Quantum Theory
by Joos, Erich; Zeh, H. D.; Kiefer, Claus; Giulini, Domenico; Kupsch, Joachim; Stamatescu, I. O.; Joos, ErichEdition: 2nd
Format: Hardcover
Pub. Date: 2003-07-01
Publisher(s): Springer Verlag
Other versions by this Author
-
This Item Qualifies for Free Shipping!*
*Excludes marketplace orders.
List Price: $114.45
Rent Textbook
Select for Price
Rent Digital
$124.02
New Textbook
We're Sorry
Sold Out
Used Textbook
We're Sorry
Sold Out
How Marketplace Works:
- This item is offered by an independent seller and not shipped from our warehouse
- Item details like edition and cover design may differ from our description; see seller's comments before ordering.
- Sellers much confirm and ship within two business days; otherwise, the order will be cancelled and refunded.
- Marketplace purchases cannot be returned to eCampus.com. Contact the seller directly for inquiries; if no response within two days, contact customer service.
- Additional shipping costs apply to Marketplace purchases. Review shipping costs at checkout.
Summary
This book describes the phenomena that arise from the interaction between quantum systems and their environment. Since the first edition appeared in 1996, the concepts of decoherence have become firmly established experimentally and are now widely used in the literature. Its major consequences are the emergence of 'classicality', superselection rules, the border line between microscopic and macroscopic behavior, the emergence of classical spacetime, and the appearance of quantum jumps. Most of the new developments in this rapidly evolving field are discussed in this second edition: chaos theory, quantum information, neuroscience, primordial fluctuations in cosmology, black holes and string theory, experimental tests, and interpretational issues. While the major part of the book is concerned with environmental decoherence derived from a universal Schroedinger equation, later chapters address complementary or competing approaches, such as consistent histories, open syste
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| Basic Concepts and Their Interpretation | p. 7 |
| The Phenomenon of Decoherence | p. 7 |
| Superpositions | p. 7 |
| Superselection Rules | p. 11 |
| Decoherence by "Measurements" | p. 13 |
| Observables as a Derived Concept | p. 17 |
| The Measurement Problem | p. 21 |
| Density Matrix, Coarse Graining, and "Events" | p. 33 |
| Conclusions | p. 40 |
| Decoherence Through Interaction with the Environment | p. 41 |
| The General Mechanisms of Decoherence | p. 47 |
| Dynamics of Quantum Correlations | p. 47 |
| Scattering Processes | p. 55 |
| Environment-Induced Superselection Rules | p. 57 |
| Localization of Objects | p. 62 |
| Localization Through Ideal Measurements | p. 64 |
| Spatial Decoherence | p. 64 |
| Equation of Motion | p. 70 |
| Decohering Wave Packets | p. 75 |
| More General Recoil-Free Decoherence | p. 78 |
| Decoherence and Dissipation | p. 79 |
| Quantum Brownian Motion | p. 79 |
| Ehrenfest Theorems | p. 87 |
| Decoherence Versus Friction | p. 89 |
| Wigner Function Description of Decoherence | p. 90 |
| Molecular Structure | p. 99 |
| Decoherence in the Brain | p. 107 |
| Dynamical Consequences | p. 109 |
| The Quantum Zeno Effect | p. 110 |
| Phenomenological Description | p. 111 |
| An Experimental Test | p. 118 |
| Models for the Quantum Zeno Effect | p. 122 |
| Master Equations | p. 126 |
| Pauli Equation | p. 126 |
| Lindblad's Form of Master Equations | p. 133 |
| Dynamical Stability of States | p. 135 |
| Sensitivity to the Presence of an Environment | p. 136 |
| Decoherence and Quantum Computation | p. 145 |
| Quantum Nondemolition Measurements | p. 147 |
| Decoherence and Quantum Chaos | p. 149 |
| Classical Versus Quantum Chaos | p. 149 |
| Example: The Kicked Rotator | p. 152 |
| Quantum (?) Chaos in the Solar System | p. 156 |
| Decoherence Through Chaotic Environments | p. 159 |
| Interpretational Issues | p. 161 |
| Null Measurements, Histories and Quantum Jumps | p. 161 |
| Quantum "Information" and Teleportation | p. 172 |
| True, False, and Fake Decoherence | p. 175 |
| Decoherence in Quantum Field Theory and Quantum Gravity | p. 181 |
| Decoherence in Quantum Electrodynamics | p. 182 |
| "Measurement" of Charges by Fields | p. 182 |
| "Measurement" of Electromagnetic Fields by Charges | p. 188 |
| Decoherence and the Gravitational Field | p. 192 |
| Emergence of Classical Spacetime | p. 192 |
| The Formalism of Quantum Cosmology | p. 196 |
| Decoherence in Quantum Cosmology | p. 199 |
| Classicality of Primordial Fluctuations in the Early Universe | p. 209 |
| Black Holes, Wormholes, and String Theory | p. 218 |
| Consistent Histories and Decoherence | p. 227 |
| Influence Functional and Its Application to Quantum Brownian Motion | p. 229 |
| Definition and Properties of Consistent Histories | p. 238 |
| Reduced Density Matrix and Decoherence | p. 247 |
| Consistent Histories, Arrow of Time, and Quantum Gravity | p. 251 |
| Superselection Rules and Symmetries | p. 259 |
| States, Observables, and Superselection Rules | p. 261 |
| Spaces of States | p. 262 |
| Spaces of Observables | p. 267 |
| Superselection Rules | p. 275 |
| Symmetries and Superselection Rules | p. 278 |
| Symmetries | p. 279 |
| Superselection Rules from Symmetries | p. 284 |
| An Example: The Univalence Superselection Rule | p. 285 |
| Discussion and Caveats | p. 287 |
| Physical Symmetries Versus Gauge Transformations | p. 289 |
| Configuration Spaces and Spaces of State | p. 289 |
| Symmetries and Redundant State Spaces | p. 292 |
| Symmetries, Redundancies, and Superselection Rules | p. 297 |
| Superselection Rules in Field Theory | p. 303 |
| Charge and Asymptotic Flux-Distribution in QED | p. 304 |
| Poincare Charges in General Relativity | p. 310 |
| Decoherence and Charge Superselection Rules | p. 312 |
| Open Quantum Systems | p. 317 |
| Reduced Dynamics | p. 319 |
| Projection Methods | p. 321 |
| Generalized Master Equations | p. 327 |
| Markov Approximation and Semigroups | p. 330 |
| Quantum Stochastic Processes | p. 333 |
| Induced Superselection Sectors | p. 339 |
| General Considerations | p. 339 |
| Hamiltonian Models of Decoherence | p. 341 |
| The Araki-Zurek Models | p. 343 |
| Particle Coupled to a Massless Boson Field | p. 345 |
| Models with Scattering | p. 347 |
| Heisenberg Picture | p. 348 |
| Mathematical Supplement | p. 350 |
| Spaces of Linear Operators | p. 350 |
| Complete Positivity | p. 354 |
| Entropy Inequalities | p. 355 |
| Stochastic Collapse Models | p. 357 |
| The Question of State Vector Reduction | p. 357 |
| Two Points of View | p. 357 |
| Decoherence, Collapse, Measurement | p. 358 |
| Various Approaches to Collapse | p. 363 |
| Spontaneous Collapse Models | p. 369 |
| The Dynamical Collapse Hypothesis | p. 369 |
| Spontaneous Localization by a Jump Process | p. 370 |
| Continuous Spontaneous Localization | p. 373 |
| Spontaneous Localization, Quantum State Diffusion and Decoherence | p. 378 |
| Related Concepts and Methods | p. 383 |
| Phase Averaging in Ensembles ("Dephasing") | p. 383 |
| Ergodicity and Irreversible Amplification | p. 385 |
| Dressing of States | p. 387 |
| Symmetry Breaking and Collective Motion | p. 388 |
| Equation of Motion of a Mass Point | p. 395 |
| Solutions for the Equation of Motion | p. 399 |
| Gaussian Density Matrices | p. 399 |
| Green Functions | p. 402 |
| Some Derived Quantities | p. 403 |
| Elementary Properties of Composite Systems in Quantum Mechanics | p. 407 |
| Quantum Correlations | p. 415 |
| Hamiltonian Formulation of Quantum Mechanics | p. 419 |
| Galilean Symmetry of Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics | p. 425 |
| Stochastic Processes | p. 433 |
| Random Variables and Distributions | p. 433 |
| Markov Chains | p. 434 |
| Stochastic Processes | p. 436 |
| The Fokker-Planck Equation | p. 437 |
| Stochastic Differential Equations | p. 439 |
| References | p. 445 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
An electronic version of this book is available through VitalSource.
This book is viewable on PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and most smartphones.
By purchasing, you will be able to view this book online, as well as download it, for the chosen number of days.
Digital License
You are licensing a digital product for a set duration. Durations are set forth in the product description, with "Lifetime" typically meaning five (5) years of online access and permanent download to a supported device. All licenses are non-transferable.
More details can be found here.
A downloadable version of this book is available through the eCampus Reader or compatible Adobe readers.
Applications are available on iOS, Android, PC, Mac, and Windows Mobile platforms.
Please view the compatibility matrix prior to purchase.