On the asymptotic dynamics of a quantum system composed by heavy and light particles (Q996048)

The authors consider a non-relativistic quantum system made of an arbitrary number of particles in the three-dimensional euclidean space. Particles are assumed to be of two types, heavy and light (with masses \(M\) and \(m\), respectively), and each of them interacts with those of the other kind through a two-body potential; each heavy particle may also be subjected to a potential which only depends on its position. The authors tackle the problem of rigorously characterizing the asymptotic form for the wave function of this system in the limit of the small mass ratio and with an explicit control of the error, under the requirements that at the initial time no correlation among the heavy and light particles is exhibited and, moreover, potentials and particles wave functions obey mild conditions. In conducting this study, they are also aimed at providing a basis for quantitative analysis of the mechanisms of loss of coherence of heavy particles due to collisional interactions with the light ones, thus generalizing results which can be found, for instance, in [\textit{E. Joss} and \textit{H. D. Zeh}, ``The emergence of classical properties through interaction with the environment'', Z. Phys. B 59, 223--243 (1985)] for systems made of just one light and one heavy particle. The authors formally derive an expression for the asymptotic wave function for the system under consideration that holds for sufficiently weak two-body potentials. In case the number of heavy particles is just one, it is shown that the result is valid regardless of the strength of the potential. The approach to the proofs is perturbative, essentially based on applications of Duhamel's formula, and inspired by [\textit{I. Rodnianski} and \textit{W. Schlag}, ``Time decay for solutions of Schrödinger equations with rough and time-dependent potentials'', Invent. Math. 155, No. 3, 451--513 (2004; Zbl 1063.35035); \textit{K. Yajima}, ``The \(W^{k,p}\)-continuity of wave operators for Schrödinger operators'', J. Math. Soc. Japan 47, 551--581 (1995; Zbl 0837.35039)]. The authors exploit some estimates they prove in the paper for the group of unitary evolutions generated by the Hamiltonian of light particles (i.e., the kinetical term for light particles plus the two-body potential terms) and its derivatives w.r.t. heavy particles position coordinates, and for the unitary group generated by the remaining (heavy) part of the Hamiltonian. The mechanism of loss of coherence for the heavy particles, as consequence of the interaction with the light ones, is commented by directly adapting arguments from [\textit{R. Adami, R. Figari, D. Finco} and \textit{A. Teta}, ``On the asymptotic behaviour of a quantum two-body system in the small mass ratio limit'', J. Phys. A, Math. Gen. 37, No. 30, 7567--7580 (2004; Zbl 1062.81140)].