arXiv · quant-ph/9702051
Dynamical Semigroup Description of Coherent and Incoherent Particle-Matter Interaction
Abstract
The meaning of statistical experiments with single microsystems in quantum mechanics is discussed and a general model in the framework of non-relativistic quantum field theory is proposed, to describe both coherent and incoherent interaction of a single microsystem with matter. Compactly developing the calculations with superoperators, it is shown that the introduction of a time scale, linked to irreversibility of the reduced dynamics, directly leads to a dynamical semigroup expressed in terms of quantities typical of scattering theory. Its generator consists of two terms, the first linked to a coherent wavelike behaviour, the second related to an interaction having a measuring character, possibly connected to events the microsystem produces propagating inside matter. In case these events breed a measurement, an explicit realization of some concepts of modern quantum mechanics ("effects" and "operations") arises. The relevance of this description to a recent debate questioning the validity of ordinary quantum mechanics to account for such experimental situations as, e.g., neutron-interferometry, is briefly discussed.
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L. Lanz, B. Vacchini. 1997-02-26. Dynamical Semigroup Description of Coherent and Incoherent Particle-Matter Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02435772
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