dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaDecohering histories and open quantum systems
| Authors | Eric D. Chisolm |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0611293 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0611293 |
| DOI | 10.1088/1742-6596/196/1/012025 |
| Journal | Journal of Physics: Conference Series 196, 012025 (2009) |
Abstract
I briefly review the ''decohering histories'' or ''consistent histories'' formulation of quantum theory, due to Griffiths, Omnes, and Gell-Mann and Hartle (and the subject of my graduate work with George Sudarshan). I also sift through the many meanings that have been attached to decohering histories, with an emphasis on the most basic one: Decoherence of appropriate histories is needed to establish that quantum mechanics has the correct classical limit. Then I will describe efforts to find physical mechanisms that do this. Since most work has focused on density matrix versions of decoherence, I'll consider the relation between the two formulations, which historically has not been straightforward. Finally, I'll suggest a line of research that would use recent results by Sudarshan to illuminate this aspect of the classical limit of quantum theory.
{
"annotation_id": "4a41259e-d35d-4201-b705-a4a12d1acfc2",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:02:34.489000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:02:34.489000Z",
"file_hash": "984cb70ec583b7c9ece21fb6af9b954ca07b6e0cdf49d6f8f0ec96730539134d",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "I briefly review the \u0027\u0027decohering histories\u0027\u0027 or \u0027\u0027consistent histories\u0027\u0027\nformulation of quantum theory, due to Griffiths, Omnes, and Gell-Mann and\nHartle (and the subject of my graduate work with George Sudarshan). I also sift\nthrough the many meanings that have been attached to decohering histories, with\nan emphasis on the most basic one: Decoherence of appropriate histories is\nneeded to establish that quantum mechanics has the correct classical limit.\nThen I will describe efforts to find physical mechanisms that do this. Since\nmost work has focused on density matrix versions of decoherence, I\u0027ll consider\nthe relation between the two formulations, which historically has not been\nstraightforward. Finally, I\u0027ll suggest a line of research that would use recent\nresults by Sudarshan to illuminate this aspect of the classical limit of\nquantum theory.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0611293",
"authors": [
"Eric D. Chisolm"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1088/1742-6596/196/1/012025",
"journal_ref": "Journal of Physics: Conference Series 196, 012025 (2009)",
"title": "Decohering histories and open quantum systems",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0611293"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "a2e2a0df-89bd-4d89-b938-8be1a0ea08f8",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}