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Article Dans Une Revue Physical Review Letters Année : 2010

Decoherence and thermalization of a pure quantum state in quantum field theory

J. Serreau
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

We study the real-time evolution of a self-interacting O(N) scalar field initially prepared in a pure quantum state. We present a complete solution of the nonequilibrium quantum dynamics from a 1/N-expansion of the two-particle-irreducible effective action at next-to-leading order, which includes scattering and memory effects. Restricting one's attention (or ability to measure) to a subset of the infinite hierarchy of correlation functions, the system is described by an effective (reduced) density matrix which, unlike the full density matrix, has a nontrivial time evolution. In particular, starting from a pure quantum state, we observe the loss of putity/coherence and, on longer time scales, thermalization of the reduced density matrix. We point out that the physics of decoherence is well described by classical statistical field theory.

Dates et versions

hal-00731062 , version 1 (11-09-2012)

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Citer

A. Giraud, J. Serreau. Decoherence and thermalization of a pure quantum state in quantum field theory. Physical Review Letters, 2010, pp.230405. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.230405⟩. ⟨hal-00731062⟩
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