dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaContinuous measurements, quantum trajectories, and decoherent histories
| Authors | Todd A. Brun |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/9710021 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9710021 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevA.61.042107 |
| Journal | Phys.Rev. A61 (2000) 042107 |
Abstract
Quantum open systems are described in the Markovian limit by master equations in Lindblad form. I argue that common ``quantum trajectory'' techniques corresponding to continuous measurement schemes, which solve the master equation by unraveling its evolution into stochastic trajectories in Hilbert space, correspond closely to particular sets of decoherent (or consistent) histories. This is illustrated by a simple model of photon counting. An equivalence is shown for these models between standard quantum jumps and the orthogonal jumps of Di\'osi, which have already been shown to correspond to decoherent histories. This correspondence is compared to simple treatments of trajectories based on repeated or continuous measurements.
{
"annotation_id": "6aa16004-4b36-46e6-9c4c-e08f4f0d02ea",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:02:41.223000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:02:41.223000Z",
"file_hash": "d606c362058dd39891b0b2f4703b9513dce065869e1ef0d4a483f847c49a5743",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "Quantum open systems are described in the Markovian limit by master equations\nin Lindblad form. I argue that common ``quantum trajectory\u0027\u0027 techniques\ncorresponding to continuous measurement schemes, which solve the master\nequation by unraveling its evolution into stochastic trajectories in Hilbert\nspace, correspond closely to particular sets of decoherent (or consistent)\nhistories. This is illustrated by a simple model of photon counting. An\nequivalence is shown for these models between standard quantum jumps and the\northogonal jumps of Di\\\u0027osi, which have already been shown to correspond to\ndecoherent histories. This correspondence is compared to simple treatments of\ntrajectories based on repeated or continuous measurements.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/9710021",
"authors": [
"Todd A. Brun"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevA.61.042107",
"journal_ref": "Phys.Rev. A61 (2000) 042107",
"title": "Continuous measurements, quantum trajectories, and decoherent histories",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9710021"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "44cfb5da-74c6-450d-82b2-25712429d200",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}