Throughout this project, the case of a composite system formed by a harmonic oscillator and a two-state atom will be studied; considering both affect each other as \na consequence of a Jaynes-Cummings interaction, and being both coupled to different reservoirs that are assumed to be independent from each other. The effects \nof the decoherence in the evolution of the populations and coherences will be analyzed; specifically the energy dissipation and the coherence loss, as well as the stationary states and the relevance of the Jaynes-Cummings interaction. Finally, the \nsolution of stochastic equations will be analyzed, particularly the evolution of the \nexpectation value of the position operator for the harmonic oscilator; for the case of \nsimultaneous measurements in both subsystems, as well as for a measurement in \nthe harmonic oscillator when the two-state atom undergoes a decoherence process.
We show that the unitary evolution of a harmonic oscillator coupled to a two-level system can be undone by a suitable manipulation of the two-level system---more specifically, by a quasi-instantaneous phase change. This enables us to isolate the dissipative evolution to which the oscillator may be exposed in addition. With this method we study the decoherence time of a photon mode in cavity QED, and that of the quantized harmonic motion of trapped ions. We comment on the relation to spin echoes and multipath interferometry.
The time evolution of a Gaussian density matrix of a one dimensional particle, generated by a quadratic,
O(∂t2) effective Lagrangian, describing a harmonic potential, a friction force and decoherence, is studied within the Closed Time Path formalism. The density matrix converges to an asymptotic form, given by a completely decohered thermal state with an
O(ℏ) temperature in the translation invariant case. The time evolution of the state of a harmonic oscillator is followed numerically. The asymptotic density matrix, the fixed point of the master equation, is found analytically and its dependence on the oscillator frequency, the friction constant and the decoherence strength is explored.