Abstract
We analyze the time evolution of an initial spatial coherence for a two level atom whose internal degrees of freedom interact with a single mode of a cavity field. When the qubit-field subsystem is taken as an environment, the translational dynamics experiences a decoherence process which may be encoded in a decoherence factor D. We find that the field statistics affects D through the alternative paths the system-environment may follow along their entanglement, while eventual field phase properties give rise to an imaginary part of D which is related to the atomic translation. From the decoherence perspective, we analyze the relation between the atomic momentum and the imaginary part of the atomic spatial density matrix, and some considerations on its asymptotic behavior are brought into question at the conclusion of the paper.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
H.D. Zeh, Found. Phys. 1, 69 (1970)
W.H. Zurek, Phys. Today 44, 36 (1991)
W.H. Zurek, Rev. Mod. Phys. 75, 715 (2003)
M. Schlosshauer, Rev. Mod. Phys. 76, 1267 (2005)
E. Joos, H.D. Zeh, C. Kiefer, D. Giulini, J. Kupsch, I.-O. Stamatescu, Decoherence and the Appearance of a Classical World in Quantum Theory, 2nd edn. (Springer, New York, 2003)
M. Schlosshauer, Decoherence and the Quantuum-to-Classical Transition (Springer, 2007)
N.P. Landsmann, Stud. Hist. Phil. Mod. Phys. 26, 45 (1995)
M. Brune, E. Hagley, J. Dreyer, X. Maître, A. Maali, C. Wunderlich, J.M. Raimond, S. Haroche, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 4887 (1996)
J.M. Raimond, M. Brune, S. Haroche, Rev. Mod. Phys. 73, 565 (2001)
P. Storey, M. Collett, D. Walls, Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 472 (1992)
P. Storey, M. Collett, D. Walls, Phys. Rev. A 47, 405 (1993)
P. Storey, S. Tan, M. Collett, D. Walls, Nature 367, 626 (1994)
M. Scully, B.-G. Englert, H. Walther, Nature 351, 111 (1991)
S. Dürr, T. Nonn, G. Rempe, Nature 395, 33 (1998)
Q. Jie, B. Hu, G. Dong, e-print arXiv:quant-ph/0601025
A. Vaglica, Phys. Rev. A 58, 3856 (1998)
A. Vaglica, G. Vetri, Phys. Rev. A 75, 062120 (2007)
L. You, Phys. Rev. A 64, 012302 (2001)
S. Shresta, B.L. Hu, Phys. Rev. A 68, 012110 (2003)
M. Tumminello, A. Vaglica, G. Vetri, Europhys. Lett. 65, 785 (2004)
L. Zheng, C. Li, Y. Li, C.P. Sun, Phys. Rev. A 71, 062101 (2005)
M. Tumminello, A. Vaglica, G. Vetri, Europhys. Lett. 66, 792 (2004)
M. Tumminello, A. Vaglica, G. Vetri, Eur. Phys. J. D 36, 235 (2005)
M. Chianello, M. Tumminello, A. Vaglica, G. Vetri, Phys. Rev. A 69, 053403 (2004)
See Section III.B of reference vv
L. Susskind, J. Glogower, Physics (Long Island City, NY) 1, 49 (1964); P. Carruthers, M.M. Nieto, Rev. Mod. Phys. 40, 411 (1968)
J.I. Cirac, L.L. Sánchez-Soto, Phys. Rev. A 42, 2851 (1990)
I. Cusumano, A. Vaglica, G. Vetri, Phys. Rev. A 66, 043408 (2002)
N.B. Narozhny, J.J. Sanchez-Mondragon, J.H. Eberly, Phys. Rev. A 23, 236 (1981)
G. Rempe, H. Walther, N. Klein, Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 353 (1987)
P.L. Knight, P.M. Radmore, Phys. Lett. A 90, 342 (1982)
C. Riti, G. Vetri, Opt. Commun. 44, 105 (1982)
S.M. Barnett, P. Filipowicz, J. Javanainen, P.L. Knight, P. Meystre, in Frontiers in Quantum Optics, edited by E.R. Pike and S. Sarkar (Adam Hilger, Bristol, 1986), p. 485
O. Pessoa Jr, Sinthese 113, 323 (1998)
K. Zaheer, M.S. Zubairy, Phys. Rev. A 39, 2000 (1989)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vaglica, A., Vetri, G. Spatial decoherence factor via the qubit-field interaction. Eur. Phys. J. D 54, 9–19 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2009-00151-4
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2009-00151-4