arXiv:quant-ph/9811026 · Physical Review Letters

Quantum Limit of Decoherence: Environment Induced Superselection of Energy Eigenstates

Juan Pablo Paz, Wojciech Hubert Zurek

Published Jun 28, 1999• 227 citations

Abstract

We investigate decoherence in the limit where the interaction with the environment is weak and the evolution is dominated by the self-Hamiltonian of the system. We show that in this case quantized eigenstates of energy emerge as pointer states selected through the predictability sieve.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.82.5181

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