Abstract. We give a first principles derivation of a master equation for the evolution of a quantum matter field in a linearly perturbed Minkowski spacetime, based solely on quantum field theory and general relativity. We make no additional assumptions nor introduce extra ingredients, as is often done in alternative quantum theories. When the quantum matter field is projected to a one-particle state, the master equation for a non-relativistic quantum particle in a weak gravitational field predicts decoherence in the energy basis, in contrast to most existing theories of gravitational decoherence. We point out the gauge nature of time and space reparameterizations in mattergravity couplings, and warn that 'intrinsic' decoherence or alternative quantum theories invoking stochastic dynamics arising from temporal or spatial fluctuations violate this fundamental symmetry of classical general relativity. Interestingly we find that the decoherence rate depends on extra parameters other than the Planck scale, an important feature of gravitational decoherence. This is similar to the dependence of the decoherence rate of a quantum Brownian particle to the temperature and spectral density of the environment it interacts with. The corresponding features when gravity acts as an environment in decohering quantum objects are what we call the 'textures' of spacetime. We point out the marked difference between the case when gravity is represented as a background spacetime versus the case when gravity acts like a thermodynamic bath to quantum particles. This points to the possibility of using gravitational decoherence measurements to discern whether gravity is intrinsically elemental or emergent.
We perform a first-principles derivation of the general master equation to study the nonMarkovian dynamics of a two-level atom (2LA) interacting with an electromagnetic field (EMF). We use the influence functional method which can incorporate the full backreaction of the field on the atom, while adopting Grassmannian variables for the 2LA and the coherent state representation for the EMF. We find exact master equations for the cases of a free quantum field and a cavity field in the vacuum. In response to the search for mechanisms to preserve maximal coherence in quantum computations in ion trap prototypes, we apply these equations to analyse the decoherence of a 2LA in an EMF, and fine that decoherence time is close to relaxation time. This is at variance to the claims by authors who studied the same system but used a different coupling model. We explain the source of difference and argue that, contrary to common belief, the EMF when resonantly coupled to an atom does not decohere it as efficiently as a bath does on a quantum Brownian particle. The master-equations for non-Markovian dynamics derived here is expected to be useful for exploring new regimes of 2LA-EMF interaction, which is becoming physically important experimentally. *
We examine the origin of the Newton-Schrödinger equations (NSEs) that play an important role in alternative quantum theories (AQT), macroscopic quantum mechanics and gravity-induced decoherence. We show that NSEs for individual particles do not follow from general relativity (GR) plus quantum field theory (QFT). Contrary to what is commonly assumed, the NSEs are not the weak-field (WF), non-relativistic (NR) limit of the semi-classical Einstein equation (SCE) (this nomenclature is preferred over the 'Moller-Rosenfeld equation') based on GR+QFT. The wave-function in the NSEs makes sense only as that for a mean field describing a system of N particles as → ∞ N , not that of a single or finite many particles. From GR+QFT the gravitational self-interaction leads to mass renormalization, not to a non-linear term in the evolution equations of some AQTs. The WF-NR limit of the gravitational interaction in GR+QFT involves no dynamics. To see the contrast, we give a derivation of the equation (i) governing the many-body wave function from GR+QFT and (ii) for the nonrelativistic limit of quantum electrodynamics. They have the same structure, being linear, and very different from NSEs. Adding to this our earlier consideration that for gravitational decoherence the master equations based on GR +QFT lead to decoherence in the energy basis and not in the position basis, despite some AQTs desiring it for the 'collapse of the wave function', we conclude that the origins and consequences of NSEs are very different, and should be clearly demarcated from those of the SCE equation, the only legitimate representative of semiclassical gravity, based on GR+QFT.
We study the time evolution of the reduced density operator for a class of quantum Brownian motion models consisting of a particle moving in a potential V (x) and coupled to an environment of harmonic oscillators in a thermal state. Our principle tool is the Wigner function of the reduced density operator, and for linear systems we derive an explicit expression for the Wigner function propagator. We use it to derive two generalized uncertainty relations. The rst consists of a sharp lower bound on the uncertainty function, U = ( p ) . In both cases the minimizing initial state is a correlated coherent state (a non-minimal Gaussian pure state), and in the rst case the lower bound is only an envelope. These generalized uncertainty relations supply a measure of the comparative size of quantum and thermal uctuations. We prove t w o simple inequalites, relating uncertainty t o v on Neumann entropy, Tr( ln ), and the von Neumann entropy to linear entropy, 1 T r 2 . W e also prove some results on the long-time
We study the construction of probability densities for time-of-arrival in quantum mechanics. Our treatment is based upon the facts that (i) time appears in quantum theory as an external parameter to the system, and (ii) propositions about the time-of-arrival appear naturally when one considers histories. The definition of time-of-arrival probabilities is straightforward in stochastic processes. The difficulties that arise in quantum theory are due to the fact that the time parameter of Schr\"odinger's equation does not naturally define a probability density at the continuum limit, but also because the procedure one follows is sensitive on the interpretation of the reduction procedure. We consider the issue in Copenhagen quantum mechanics and in history-based schemes like consistent histories. The benefit of the latter is that it allows a proper passage to the continuous limit--there are however problems related to the quantum Zeno effect and decoherence. We finally employ the histories-based description to construct Positive-Operator-Valued-Measures (POVMs) for the time-of-arrival, which are valid for a general Hamiltonian. These POVMs typically depend on the resolution of the measurement device; for a free particle, however, this dependence cancels in the physically relevant regime and the POVM coincides with that of Kijowski.Comment: 40 pages, 1 fig.--expanded argumentation, version to appear in JM
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