In general relativity, the notion of mass and other conserved quantities at spatial infinity can be defined in a natural way via the Hamiltonian framework: Each conserved quantity is associated with an asymptotic symmetry and the value of the conserved quantity is defined to be the value of the Hamiltonian which generates the canonical transformation on phase space corresponding to this symmetry. However, such an approach cannot be employed to define "conserved quantities" in a situation where symplectic current can be radiated away (such as occurs at null infinity in general relativity) because there does not, in general, exist a Hamiltonian which generates the given asymptotic symmetry. (This fact is closely related to the fact that the desired "conserved quantities" are not, in general, conserved!) In this paper we give a prescription for defining "conserved quantities" by proposing a modification of the equation that must be satisfied by a Hamiltonian. Our prescription is a very general one, and is applicable to a very general class of asymptotic conditions in arbitrary diffeomorphism covariant theories of gravity derivable from a Lagrangian, 1 although we have not investigated existence and uniqueness issues in the most general contexts. In the case of general relativity with the standard asymptotic conditions at null infinity, our prescription agrees with the one proposed by Dray and Streubel from entirely different considerations. 2

We analyse the quantum evolution of a particle moving in a potential in interaction with an environment of harmonic oscillators in a thermal state, using the quantum state diffusion (QSD) picture of Gisin and Percival. The QSD picture exploits a mathematical connection between the usual Markovian master equation for the evolution of the density operator and a class of stochastic non-linear Schrödinger equations (Ito equations) for a pure state |ψ , and appears to supply a good description of individual systems and processes. We find approximate stationary solutions to the Ito equation (exact, for the case of quadratic potentials). The solutions are Gaussians, localized around a point in phase space undergoing classical Brownian motion. We show, for quadratic potentials, that every initial state approaches these stationary solutions in the long time limit. We recover the density operator corresponding to these solutions, and thus show, for this particular model, that the QSD picture effectively supplies a prescription for approximately diagonalizing the density operator in a basis of phase space localized states. We show that the rate of localization is related to the decoherence time, and also to the timescale on which thermal and quantum fluctuations become comparable. We use these results to exemplify the general connection between the QSD picture and the decoherent histories approach to quantum mechanics, discussed previously by Diósi, Gisin, Halliwell and Percival.

Using the path integral representation of the density matrix propagator of quantum Brownian motion, we derive its asymptotic form for times greater than the so-called localization time, (h/γkT ) 1 2 , where γ is the dissipation and T the temperature of the thermal environment. The localization time is typically greater than the decoherence time, but much shorter than the relaxation time, γ −1 . We use this result to show that the reduced density operator rapidly evolves into a state which is approximately diagonal in a set of generalized coherent states. We thus reproduce, using a completely different method, a result we previously obtained using the quantum state diffusion picture (Phys.Rev. D52, 7294 (1995)). We also go beyond this earlier result, in that we derive an explicit expression for the weighting of each phase space localized state in the approximately diagonal density matrix, as a function of the initial state. For sufficiently long times it is equal to the Wigner function, and we confirm that the Wigner function is positive for times greater than the localization time (multiplied by a number of order 1).

We employ the influence functional technique to trace out the photonic contribution from full quantum electrodynamics. The reduced density matrix propagator then is constructed for the electron field. We discuss the role of time-dependent renormalization in the propagator and focus our attention on the possibility of obtaining a dynamically induced superselection rule. As a final application of our formalism, we derive the master equation for the case of the field being in a one-particle state in the nonrelativistic regime and discuss whether electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations are sufficient to produce decoherence in a position basis.

We analyse the evolution of a quantum oscillator in a finite temperature environment using the quantum state diffusion (QSD) picture. Following a treatment similar to that of reference [7] we identify stationary solutions of the corresponding Itô equation. We prove their global stability and compute typical time scales characterizing the localization process. The recovery of the density matrix in approximately diagonal form enables us to verify the approach to thermal equilibrium in the long time limit and we comment on the connection between QSD and the decoherent histories approach.

No abstract