Decoherence and fluctuations in quantum interference experiments
arXiv:quant-ph/0106027 · doi:10.1002/1521-3978(200110)49:10/11<1033::AID-PROP1033>3.0.CO;2-U
Abstract
We analyze the notion of quantum coherence in an interference experiment. We let the phase shifts fluctuate according to a given statistical distribution and introduce a decoherence parameter, defined in terms of a generalized visibility of the interference pattern. One might naively expect that a particle ensemble suffers a greater loss of quantum coherence by interacting with an increasingly randomized distribution of shifts. As we shall see, this is not always true.
9 pages, 3 figures