We study two conditions for the quantum system to behave classically: decoherence in the quantum interference and the establishment of the classical trajectory in phase space. We show, despite the fact that these two conditions partially conflict with each other, the upside-down harmonic oscillator with a diffusion term satisfies them simultaneously. The implications for quantum cosmology and the measurement theory of quantum mechanics are given.
We study two conditions for the quantum system to behave classically: decoherence in the quantum interference and the establishment of the classical trajectory in phase space. We show, despite the fact that these two conditions partially conflict with each other, the upside-down harmonic oscillator with a diffusion term satisfies them simultaneously. The implications for quantum cosmology and the measurement theory of quantum mechanics are given.
We study the classical limit of quantum mechanics as applied to quantum cosmology. Conventional wisdom regards the peaking of the Wigner function of the Universe around a classical trajectory as being a quantum prediction of that trajectory. We show that, with quantum interference correctly taken into account, the hoped for "classical correlation" does not exist. There are, therefore, serious difficulties with the notion that a pure quantum state has a classical limit relevant to the description of our world. Some form of quantum decoherence appears necessary for a strict classical limit to exist. This alternative is briefly discussed.
We discuss the emergence of the classical description from quantum mechanics for chaotic systems. We consider a specific model, which corresponds to an ion trapped in a harmonic potential and submitted to a sequence of laser pulses: the kicked harmonic oscillator, under conditions that lead to chaotic behavior for the classical system. We show that noise plays an essential role in the transition from quantum to classical behavior. This transition is described in terms of the separation between the classical phase space distribution and the Wigner function corresponding to the quantum system, obtained by integrating over the whole phase space the magnitude of the difference between the two distributions. It is shown that, in the semiclassical limit, this separation is governed by a single parameter, which depends on the diffusion coefficient, the Lamb-Dicke parameter, and the kick strength. The Lamb-Dicke parameter plays the role of a dimensioneless Planck constant. As this parameter goes to zero, we show that both distributions remain close together for all times.
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.
The emergence of classicality from a stochastic quantum system through decoherence is investigated. We consider the case where the parameters, such as mass, frequency, and the damping coefficient, vary with time. The invariant operator theory is employed in order to describe quantum evolution of the system. It is supposed that the system is in equilibrium with the environment at a finite temperature. The characteristics of decoherence, the classical correlation and the quantum coherence length are analyzed. The decoherence time is estimated in both position and momentum spaces. We verify from such analyses that the time dependence of the stochastic process affects the quantum-to-classical transition of the system. To promote the understanding of the results, we apply our development to a particular system which is the damped harmonic oscillator. Through this application, we confirm that the decoherence condition is satisfied in the limit of a sufficiently high temperature, whereas the classical correlation is not affected by the temperature.
We consider two interacting systems when one is treated classically while the other system remains quantum. Consistent dynamics of this coupling has been shown to exist, and explored in the context of treating space-time classically. Here, we prove that any such hybrid dynamics necessarily results in decoherence of the quantum system, and a breakdown in predictability in the classical phase space. We further prove that a trade-off between the rate of this decoherence and the degree of diffusion induced in the classical system is a general feature of all classical quantum dynamics; long coherence times require strong diffusion in phase-space relative to the strength of the coupling. Applying the trade-off relation to gravity, we find a relationship between the strength of gravitationally-induced decoherence versus diffusion of the metric and its conjugate momenta. This provides an experimental signature of theories in which gravity is fundamentally classical. Bounds on decoherence rates arising from current interferometry experiments, combined with precision measurements of mass, place significant restrictions on theories where Einstein's classical theory of gravity interacts with quantum matter. We find that part of the parameter space of such theories are already squeezed out, and provide figures of merit which can be used in future mass measurements and interference experiments.
We consider two interacting systems when one is treated classically while the other system remains quantum. Consistent dynamics of this coupling has been shown to exist, and explored in the context of treating space-time classically. Here, we prove that such hybrid dynamics necessarily results in decoherence of the quantum system, and a breakdown in predictability in the classical phase space. We further prove that a trade-off between the rate of this decoherence and the degree of diffusion induced in the classical system is a general feature of all classical quantum dynamics; long coherence times require strong diffusion in phase-space relative to the strength of the coupling. Applying the trade-off relation to gravity, we find a relationship between the strength of gravitationally-induced decoherence versus diffusion of the metric and its conjugate momenta. This provides an experimental signature of theories in which gravity is fundamentally classical. Bounds on decoherence rates arising from current interferometry experiments, combined with precision measurements of mass, place significant restrictions on theories where Einstein's classical theory of gravity interacts with quantum matter. We find that part of the parameter space of such theories are already squeezed out, and provide figures of merit which can be used in future mass measurements and interference experiments.