Stochastic collapse and decoherence of a non-dissipative forced harmonic oscillator

DOI10.1088/0305-4470/38/12/014MaRDI QIDQ4673069zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Stephen L. Adler

Publication date 29 April 2005

Published in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0411053

zbMATH Keywords

nano-systemsprecision experimentsquantum mechanicsstochastic collapse

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Random operators and equations (aspects of stochastic analysis) (60H25) Quantum measurement theory, state operations, state preparations (81P15) Quantum stochastic calculus (81S25) Gravitational waves (83C35)

Abstract: Careful monitoring of harmonically bound (or as a limiting case, free) masses is the basis of current and future gravitational wave detectors, and of nanomechanical devices designed to access the quantum regime. We analyze the effects of stochastic localization models for state vector reduction, and of related models for environmental decoherence, on such systems, focusing our analysis on the non-dissipative forced harmonic oscillator, and its free mass limit. We derive an explicit formula for the time evolution of the expectation of a general operator in the presence of stochastic reduction or environmentally induced decoherence, for both the non-dissipative harmonic oscillator and the free mass. In the case of the oscillator, we also give a formula for the time evolution of the matrix element of the stochastic expectation density matrix between general coherent states. We show that the stochastic expectation of the variance of a Hermitian operator in any unraveling of the stochastic process is bounded by the variance computed from the stochastic expectation of the density matrix, and we develop a formal perturbation theory for calculating expectation values of operators within any unraveling. Applying our results to current gravitational wave interferometer detectors and nanomechanical systems, we conclude that the deviations from quantum mechanics predicted by the continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) model of state vector reduction are at least five orders of magnitude below the relevant standard quantum limits for these experiments. The proposed LISA gravitational wave detector will be two orders of magnitude away from the capability of observing an effect.

Recommendations

• Stochastic Schrödinger equation for a quantum oscillator with dissipation
• Martingale models for quantum state reduction
• Generalized stochastic Schrödinger equations for state vector collapse
• Asymptotic solutions of the quantum stochastic Liouville equation for an oscillator with regard to dissipation
• Poisson stochastic master equation unravelings and the measurement problem: a quantum stochastic calculus perspective

Cited in

(6)

• Reconsidering Mermin's ``In praise of measurement
• Collapse and revival for a slightly anharmonic Hamiltonian
• Unified algebraic method to non-Hermitian systems with Lie algebraic linear structure
• Experimental metaphysics\(_2\): the double standard in the quantum-information approach to the foundations of quantum theory
• Corrigendum to: ``Wave function collapse equation maintains conservation laws with no new constants
• Explaining the unobserved -- why quantum mechanics ain't only about information

This page was built for publication: Stochastic collapse and decoherence of a non-dissipative forced harmonic oscillator

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q4673069)