Dephasing of a particle in a dissipative environment
arXiv:0708.0965 · doi:10.1088/1751-8113/40/41/002
Abstract
The motion of a particle in a ring of length L is influenced by a dirty metal environment whose fluctuations are characterized by a short correlation distance . We analyze the induced decoherence process, and compare the results with those obtained in the opposing Caldeira-Leggett limit (). A proper definition of the dephasing factor that does not depend on a vague semiclassical picture is employed. Some recent Monte-Carlo results about the effect of finite temperatures on "mass renormalization" in this system are illuminated.
18 pages, 2 figures, some textual improvements, to be published in JPA