Interferência quântica com objetos complexos
J. A. B. Coelho
Abstract
In this work, we analyze the effect of an object's internal degrees of freedom on its center of mass dynamics in order to determine its relevance to decoherence processes in double slit experiments.We show that these degrees of freedom couple to the center of mass in the presence of a potential that breaks the translational invariance of the system, and in so doing, act as an environment that evolves together with the object's center of mass.Using a scattering approach, we compute the density operator of the system composed of its center of mass and relative coordinates, in the Born approximation, for elastic scattering.We argue how this density operator gives us information about inelastic processes and conclude that, within the Born approximation, geometric constraints prevent the internal degrees of freedom from acting as a relevant factor for decoherence.vi