Open Quantum Systems and Decoherence

Synopsis

Open quantum systems are systems, studied with the laws of quantum mechanics, that are coupled to the environment. Their interactions lead to the suppression of the quantum interference effects. Such a phenomenon is known as the decoherence effect. In this talk I will give a brief introduction to open quantum systems and the aforementioned decoherence effect. I will then discuss two ways of modelling the dynamics of open quantum systems: the axiomatic approach by Lindblad [1], and a specific model for a particle in a thermal bath (“collisional decoherence”) [2].


[1] “On the Generators of Quantum Dynamical Semigroups”, G.Lindblad, Commun. math. Pays. 48, 119-130 (1976).
[2] “Collisional Decoherence reexamined”, K. Hornberger, J. E. Sipe, Phys. Rev. A 68 012105 (2003).