Entropy, Quantum Decoherence and Pointer States in Scalar ``Parton'' Fields

TL;DR

This paper investigates how entropy emerges in scalar fields due to confinement, identifying pointer states and calculating geometric entropy related to surface area, thus linking quantum decoherence with strong interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a method to compute the statistical and geometric entropy of observable scalar fields and identifies pointer states through density matrix diagonalization.

Findings

Pointer states are derived from the density matrix of scalar fields.

Finite geometric entropy proportional to surface area is calculated.

The approach links entropy with confinement and quantum decoherence in strong interactions.

Abstract

Entropy arises in strong interactions by a dynamical separation of ``partons'' from unobservable ``environment'' modes due to confinement. For interacting scalar fields we calculate the statistical entropy of the observable subsystem. Diagonalizing its functional density matrix yields field pointer states and their probabilities in terms of Wightman functions. It also indicates how to calculate a finite geometric entropy proportional to a surface area.