dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaReply to Comment on "Quantum Measurement and Decoherence"
| Authors | G. W. Ford, R. F. O'Connell |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0409178 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0409178 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevA.70.026102 |
| Journal | Phys.Rev. A70, 026102 (2004) |
Abstract
While agreeing with our exact expression for the time dependence of the motion of a free particle in an initial superposition state, corresponding to two identical Gaussians separated by a distance $d$, at temperature $T$, Gobert et al., in the preceding Comment [Phys. Rev. A xxx], dispute our conclusions on decoherence time scales. However, the parameters they used to generate their figures are outside the regime of validity of our interpretation of the results and, moreover, are not of physical interest in that they correspond to $T\approx 0$. The point is that in their figures they have chosen the thermal de Broglie wavelength $\lambda_{th}=\hbar \sqrt{mkT}$ to be equal to slit spacing \emph{d}, whereas we have clearly stated [in the paragraph preceding Eq. (21) of our paper] that decoherence occurs and that our expression for the decoherence time applies only in the limit where \emph{d} is large compared not only with the slit width $\sigma $ but also with the thermal de Broglie wavelength, $d\gg \lambda_{th},\sigma $.
{
"annotation_id": "f258cc27-c851-4324-9158-73c753a005f5",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:02:09.879000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:02:09.879000Z",
"file_hash": "0f3383d4e1af5784607ca397ed561a566df0970afc4b9a1bf176e76ec3e416f8",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "While agreeing with our exact expression for the time dependence of the\nmotion of a free particle in an initial superposition state, corresponding to\ntwo identical Gaussians separated by a distance $d$, at temperature $T$, Gobert\net al., in the preceding Comment [Phys. Rev. A xxx], dispute our conclusions on\ndecoherence time scales. However, the parameters they used to generate their\nfigures are outside the regime of validity of our interpretation of the results\nand, moreover, are not of physical interest in that they correspond to\n$T\\approx 0$. The point is that in their figures they have chosen the thermal\nde Broglie wavelength $\\lambda_{th}=\\hbar \\sqrt{mkT}$ to be equal to slit\nspacing \\emph{d}, whereas we have clearly stated [in the paragraph preceding\nEq. (21) of our paper] that decoherence occurs and that our expression for the\ndecoherence time applies only in the limit where \\emph{d} is large compared not\nonly with the slit width $\\sigma $ but also with the thermal de Broglie\nwavelength, $d\\gg \\lambda_{th},\\sigma $.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0409178",
"authors": [
"G. W. Ford",
"R. F. O\u0027Connell"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevA.70.026102",
"journal_ref": "Phys.Rev. A70, 026102 (2004)",
"title": "Reply to Comment on \"Quantum Measurement and Decoherence\"",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0409178"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "786e3d26-344e-46dc-9b9c-5250e18f6fcd",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}