dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaDecoherence, fluctuations and Wigner function in neutron optics
| Authors | P. Facchi, A. Mariano, S. Pascazio, M. Suda |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0210088 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0210088 |
| DOI | 10.1088/1464-4266/5/3/360 |
| Journal | J. Opt. B: Quantum Semiclass. Opt. 5 (2003) S290 |
Abstract
We analyze the coherence properties of neutron wave packets, after they have interacted with a phase shifter undergoing different kinds of statistical fluctuations. We give a quantitative (and operational) definition of decoherence and compare it to the standard deviation of the distribution of the phase shifts. We find that in some cases the neutron ensemble is more coherent, even though it has interacted with a wider (i.e. more disordered) distribution of shifts. This feature is independent of the particular definition of decoherence: this is shown by proposing and discussing an alternative definition, based on the Wigner function, that displays a similar behavior. We briefly discuss the notion of entropy of the shifts and find that, in general, it does not correspond to that of decoherence of the neutron.
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"abstract": "We analyze the coherence properties of neutron wave packets, after they have\ninteracted with a phase shifter undergoing different kinds of statistical\nfluctuations. We give a quantitative (and operational) definition of\ndecoherence and compare it to the standard deviation of the distribution of the\nphase shifts. We find that in some cases the neutron ensemble is more coherent,\neven though it has interacted with a wider (i.e. more disordered) distribution\nof shifts. This feature is independent of the particular definition of\ndecoherence: this is shown by proposing and discussing an alternative\ndefinition, based on the Wigner function, that displays a similar behavior. We\nbriefly discuss the notion of entropy of the shifts and find that, in general,\nit does not correspond to that of decoherence of the neutron.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0210088",
"authors": [
"P. Facchi",
"A. Mariano",
"S. Pascazio",
"M. Suda"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1088/1464-4266/5/3/360",
"journal_ref": "J. Opt. B: Quantum Semiclass. Opt. 5 (2003) S290",
"title": "Decoherence, fluctuations and Wigner function in neutron optics",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0210088"
},
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