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Quantum State Engineering of Light with Continuous-wave Optical Parametric Oscillators
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Preferred states of decoherence under intermediate system-environment coupling.

Wen-ge Wang1, Lewei He, Jiangbin Gong

  • 1Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. wgwang@ustc.edu.cn

Physical Review Letters
|March 10, 2012
PubMed
Summary

Decoherence rapidly reduces quantum superposition to a mixture by relying on preferred states (PS). This study shows approximate PS emerge from quantum dynamics even with intermediate system-environment coupling, without thermal averaging.

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Area of Science:

  • Quantum mechanics
  • Quantum information theory
  • Statistical mechanics

Background:

  • Decoherence theory explains the transition from quantum superposition to classical mixtures.
  • Preferred states (PS) are crucial for understanding decoherence, but their emergence in intermediate coupling regimes is less understood.
  • Existing models often assume weak or strong system-environment interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the emergence of approximate preferred states (PS) in intermediate system-environment coupling regimes.
  • To explore the role of coherent quantum dynamics in the absence of thermal averaging.
  • To provide insights into decoherence and quantum thermalization processes.

Main Methods:

  • A dynamical model simulating a two-level system interacting with a small environment was developed.
  • Quantum dynamics of the entire system (system + environment) were analyzed.
  • Computational results were used to qualitatively explain the findings.

Main Results:

  • Approximate preferred states (PS) emerge from coherent quantum dynamics even for intermediate system-environment coupling.
  • The emergent PS continuously deform towards known limits for weak or strong coupling.
  • No thermal averaging is required for the emergence of these approximate PS.

Conclusions:

  • The study demonstrates that preferred states can arise from the underlying quantum dynamics.
  • Findings offer a deeper understanding of decoherence beyond idealized coupling regimes.
  • The results contribute to the study of quantum thermalization and the quantum-to-classical transition.