Evolution of a quantum harmonic oscillator coupled to a minimal thermal environment

Abstract

In this paper it is studied the influence of a minimal thermal environment on the dynamics of a quantum harmonic oscillator (labelled A), prepared in a coherent state. The environment itself consists of a second oscillator (labelled B), initially in a thermal state. Two types of interaction Hamiltonians are considered, and the time-evolution of the reduced density operator of oscillator A is compared to the one obtained from the usual master equation approach, i.e., assuming that oscillator A is coupled to a large reservoir. An analysis of the linear entropy evolution of oscillator A shows that simplified models may be able to describe important features related to the phenomenon of decoherence.

Discussion included

References in corpus (3)

• Sideband Cooling Micromechanical Motion to the Quantum Ground State
• Quantum squeezing of motion in a mechanical resonator
• Specific heat anomalies of open quantum systems

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Quantum chaos, equilibration and control in extremely short spin chains
• Sudden death of entanglement induced by a minimal thermal environment
• A simple model for a minimal environment: the two-atom Tavis-Cummings model revisited
• Two coupled qubits under the influence of a minimal, phase-sensitive environment