Entanglement-induced Decoherence and Energy Eigenstates

TL;DR

This paper derives explicit formulas for decoherence times due to entanglement in quantum systems, identifies conditions favoring energy eigenstates as stable states in chaotic environments, and confirms predictions with numerical models.

Contribution

It provides new analytical expressions for decoherence times and conditions for energy eigenstates to be preferred, advancing understanding of quantum chaos and entanglement dynamics.

Findings

Explicit decoherence time expressions derived

Conditions for energy eigenstates as preferred states established

Numerical model confirms theoretical predictions

Abstract

Using recent results in the field of quantum chaos we derive explicit expressions for the time scale of decoherence induced by the system-environment entanglement. For a generic system-environment interaction and for a generic quantum chaotic system as environment, conditions are derived for energy eigenstates to be preferred states in the weak coupling regime. A simple model is introduced to numerically confirm our predictions. The results presented here may also help understanding the dynamics of quantum entanglement generation in chaotic quantum systems.