Quantum Dynamics With Intrinsic Time Asymmetry and Indistinguishable Events

TL;DR

This paper proposes an intrinsic, boundary-condition-based approach to quantum time asymmetry, leading to a new, model-independent mechanism for decoherence that explains experimental results without traditional master equations.

Contribution

It introduces a boundary-condition-driven intrinsic time asymmetry in quantum dynamics, providing a novel decoherence mechanism and explaining experimental observations.

Findings

Predictive probabilities for Rabi oscillation decoherence calculated.

Experimental signatures of intrinsic time asymmetry identified.

Indistinguishability of interactions explains previously puzzling results.

Abstract

The extrinsic quantum mechanical arrow of time is understood to be a consequence of the interaction between quantum systems and their environment. A choice of boundary conditions for the Schr\"odinger equation results in a different time asymmetry intrinsic to quantum mechanical dynamics and independent of environmental interactions. Correct application of the intrinsically asymmetric dynamics, however, leads unavoidably to predictions of the experimental signatures of the extrinsic arrow of time. We are led to a new, model-independent mechanism for quantum decoherence. We need not invoke a master equation or a phase-destroying, non-Hermitian Hamiltonian operator. As an application, we calculate predictive probabilities for the decoherence measured in Rabi oscillations experiments. We can also show that a previously puzzling experimental result, unexplained within the formalism of the quantum master equation, is in fact expected and is the measurable consequence of the indistinguishability of separate, uncontrolled interactions between systems and their environment.