Defining the moving preferred basis

TL;DR

This paper introduces a general, formal definition of the moving preferred basis in quantum decoherence, applicable across various models, and compares decoherence and relaxation times within this framework.

Contribution

It provides a universal, rigorous definition of the moving preferred basis and applies it to a known model to analyze decoherence and relaxation times.

Findings

Defined a general moving preferred basis for quantum decoherence

Applied the definition to a well-known model

Compared decoherence and relaxation times within this framework

Abstract

There are many formalisms to describe quantum decoherence. However, many of them give a non general and ad hoc definition of "pointer basis" or "moving preferred basis", and this fact is a problem for the decoherence program. In this paper we will consider quantum systems under a general theoretical framework for decoherence and present a very general definition of the moving preferred basis. In addition, this definition is implemented in a well known model and the time of decoherence and the relaxation time are defined and compared with those of this model.