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Classical and Quantum Gravity

Interpretation of the decoherence functional in quantum cosmology

Claus Kiefer

Published Feb 1, 1991• 18 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The emergence of classical properties in quantum gravity is discussed through the use of the decoherence functional. Because there is no external time parameters in quantum gravity, its formulation is different from the one in quantum mechanics. It is shown that the decoherence functional can be applied in the usual sense, if gravity can be approximated semiclassically. To illustrate the essential features, the model of a scalar field on de Sitter space is discussed in detail.

DOI
10.1088/0264-9381/8/2/016

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The emergence of classical properties in quantum gravity is discussed through the use of the decoherence functional. Because there is no external time parameters in quantum gravity, its formulation is different from the one in quantum mechanics. It is shown that the decoherence functional can be applied in the usual sense, if gravity can be approximated semiclassically. To illustrate the essential features, the model of a scalar field on de Sitter space is discussed in detail.
The formulation of a consistent scheme for treating semiclassical systems is considered, giving particular emphasis to the case of gravity. A critical review of the semiclassical problem is first given, stressing the conceptual aspects of the topic; the theory usually adopted is found to be unsatisfactory, and the need to have an unambiguous interpretation of quantum mechanics before trying to give an alternative description is realized. Our way to arrive at such an interpretation is rather unusual, but it presents the advantage of being almost compelling in the choice to make: First, we reformulate the Schrodinger equation as a set of hydrodynamical equations involving quantities which formally play the role of mass density, velocity and pressure for a fluid; the problem of interpreting the wave function is thus reduced to that of interpreting these quantities. We then show how they can be derived from the Wigner distribution function exactly as in the usual formalism of kinetic theory, and discuss how this fact provides strong support in favour of the statistical interpretation of quantum theory, according to which the state vector describes only ensembles, and not individual systems. We also consider some implications of these results on the possible existence of a more fundamental theory underlying quantum mechanics. It is shown that reconsidering the semiclassical problem in the light of the statistical interpretation, one is led to distinguish between a strongly and a weakly semiclassical regime, which are essentially characterized by the size of the statistical dispersion induced in the observables of the classical subsystem by the coupling to the quantum one. It turns out that in the weakly semiclassical regime, in which this dispersion is not negligible, the concept of coupling equations cannot be successfully applied, and one has rather to define a probability distribution even for the values of the classical observables; an hypothesis which allows to specify such a distribution is enunciated. Several examples of the application of these general principles are considered, and it is shown how the treatment of semiclassical relativistic fields requires a much more sophisticated treatment of the quantum source. This is provided reformulating quantum theory in terms of a quasiprobability functional P[1] in the space of the histories of the system. It is shown how such a functional allows to reconstruct the usual phase space distributions when integrated over suitable sets of paths, in a way which clarify the relations between operator ordering, path integration and phase space treatment of quantum theory. The relativistic extension of p[f] is also constructed, and an explicitly covariant version of relativistic quantum theory is discussed in some details. It is shown how the latter allows, formally, to consider superpositions of different mass eigenstates, although such superpositions are not directly observable. Finally, the application of these new techniques to the treatment of semiclassical electromagnetism and gravity, as well as of a scalar field, are considered. It is shown how the usual semiclassical field equations, suitably reinterpreted in terms of averages of the field, are recovered either in linear cases or in the strongly semiclassical regime, but that they do not hold in general. Finally, some possible extensions and implications of the formalism are discussed.
We treat the interaction of a semiclassical electromagnetic field with a complex scalar field as a continuous measurement process through which certain interference terms between electromagnetic field states may become suppressed---they "decohere." The formal framework is the functional Schr\"odinger picture for scalar QED. The reduced density matrix for the electromagnetic field is discussed in detail. We calculate the remaining coherence width for realistic laboratory field strengths. The back reaction of the scalar field on the electromagnetic state is discussed with the help of the Wigner function and is explicitly calculated. We compare our results with the corresponding case in quantum gravity where the radius of the Universe is "measured" by inhomogeneous scalar field modes. We propose to render the decoherence factor finite by summing over a set of rescaled field modes.
This final chapter starts with a brief review of quantum-gravity phenomenology. It then focuses on an important conceptual issue – the relevance of quantum gravity for the general interpretation of quantum theory. A central part is devoted to the discussion of the quantum-to-classical transition, with decoherence as its crucial mechanism. It is shown that the quantum states used in cosmology can be interpreted in a sensible way. The chapter also contains a discussion of the arrow of time in the light of quantum cosmology and ends with a brief outlook and reflections.
The gravitational decoherence field studies the suppression of coherence in quantum systems caused by effects rooted in the gravitational interaction. This models are not just important to yield interesting ideas about the search, in regimes others than the Planck scale, for the interplay between quantum mechanics and general relativity, but also from a theoretical point of view. The fact that the gravitational field can not be shielded opens the question of how strong will the gravitational ‘environment’ decohere a quantum system? and if this decoherence can somehow explain the absence of macroscopical super- positions? This thesis studies in depth the ‘Classical Channel Gravity’ (CCG) model, a recent proposal of gravitational decoherence that assumes that the gravitational interac- tion is always accompanied with an intrinsic decoherence mechanism which ensures that there is no transmission of quantum information between the parties involved. This model can be understood a series of weak continuous quantum measurements accompanied with a feedback term produced by some underlying hidden gravitational degrees of freedom. We first study all the possible emergent dynamics from collisional Markovian dynamics; these ones range from exact unitary to arbitrary fast decoherence (Zeno effect). The second part of the thesis is devoted to study the Newtonian and post Newtonian limits of the CCG model, with particular focus on the testability features of CCG. In particular, we apply this model to coupled clocks and find that the amount of decoherence predicted by CCG is the same as the decoherence that an ‘environment of clocks’ will imprint in a single clock in the context of unitary evolution. On the other hand, we find that this effect is far from being detectable with the current achieved time accuracy. However, CCG as a model for multi partite systems and two systems with very different masses seems to yield an amount of decoherence that is not only able to be detectable with current experiments but also seems to indicate that this model is ruled out. Nevertheless, we also mention potential caveats with our assumptions and discuss other physically motivated directions to further study this result. Finally, we also explore the extension of CCG for the cosmological scenario. In this context the scale factor is being decohered by test particles ‘sitting’ on spacetime. We find that this decoherence will be seen by an observer unaware of the CCG fundamental mechanism as an emergent form of dark energy filling the universe.
We discuss the manner in which the gravitational field becomes classical in quantum cosmology. This involves two steps. First, one must show that the quantum state of the gravitational field becomes strongly peaked about a set of classical configurations. Second, one must show that the system is in one of a number of states of a relatively permanent nature that have negligible interference with each other. This second step involves decoherence---destruction of the off-diagonal terms in the density matrix, representing interference. To introduce the notion of decoherence, we discuss it in the context of the quantum theory of measurement, following the environment-induced superselection approach of Zurek. We then go on to discuss the application of these ideas to quantum cosmology. We show, in a simple homogeneous isotropic model, that the density matrix of the Universe will decohere if the long-wavelength modes of an inhomogeneous massless scalar field are traced out. These modes effectively act as an environment which continuously ``monitors'' the scale factor. The coherence width is very small except in the neighborhood of a classical bounce. This means that one cannot really say that a classical solution bounces because the notion of classical spacetime does not apply. The coherence width decreases as the scale factor increases, which has implications for the arrow of time. We also show, using decoherence arguments, that the WKB component of the wave function of the Universe which represents expanding universes has negligible interference with the collapsing component. This justifies the usual assumption that they may be treated separately.