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On the Definition of Decoherence

J. Finkelstein
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Abstract

We examine the relationship between the decoherence of quantum-mechanical histories of a closed system (as discussed by Gell-Mann and Hartle) and environmentally-induced diagonalization of the density operator for an open system. We study a definition of decoherence which incorporates both of these ideas, and show that it leads to a consistent probabilistic interpretation of the reduced density operator.

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J. Finkelstein. 1993-01-07. On the Definition of Decoherence. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.47.5430

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