Motion of an electron through vacuum fluctuations

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations influence a nonrelativistic electron's motion and decoherence, deriving a modified equation of motion free of runaway solutions and clarifying the nature of vacuum-induced decoherence.

Contribution

It derives a new equation of motion for an electron in vacuum that avoids runaway solutions and analyzes the nature of vacuum-induced decoherence.

Findings

Equation of motion similar to Abraham-Lorentz but stable

Decoherence from vacuum fluctuations is not true irreversibility

Vacuum effects can be modeled without runaway solutions

Abstract

We study the effects of the electromagnetic vacuum on the motion of a nonrelativistic electron. First, we derive the equation of motion for the expectation value of the electron's position operator. We show how this equation has the same form as the classical Abraham-Lorentz equation but, at the same time, is free of the well known runaway solution. Second, we study decoherence induced by vacuum fluctuations. We show that decoherence due to vacuum fluctuations that appears at the level of the reduced density matrix of the electron, obtained after tracing over the radiation field, does not correspond to actual irreversible loss of coherence.