arXiv:quant-ph/0603109 · Physical Review A
Decoherence induced by a phase-damping reservoir
R. M. Angelo, E. S. Cardoso, K. Furuya
Abstract
A phase damping reservoir composed by $N$-bosons coupled to a system of interest through a cross-Kerr interaction is proposed and its effects on quantum superpositions are investigated. By means of analytical calculations we show that: (i) the reservoir induces a Gaussian decay of quantum coherences, and (ii) the inherent incommensurate character of the spectral distribution yields irreversibility. A state-independent decoherence time and a master equation are both derived analytically. These results, which have been extended for the thermodynamic limit, show that nondissipative decoherence can be suitably contemplated within the environment-induced decoherence (EID) approach. Finally, it is shown that the same mechanism yielding decoherence are also responsible for inducing dynamical disentanglement.