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Electron Decoherence at Zero Temperature

The phenomenology and associated difficulties

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Kondo Effect and Dephasing in Low-Dimensional Metallic Systems

Part of the book series: NATO Science Series ((NAII,volume 50))

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Abstract

The problem of low temperature decoherence of an electron inside a disordered conductor [1] is extremely important in many areas of physics. For instance [2], to verify predictions of the quantum theory, measurements have to be made. However, one prevalent interpretation requires the explicit existence of a classical apparatus for measurement. The necessity of classical mechanics to interpret quantum theory of which it should be a limiting case creates the so-called quantum measurement problem in addition to the fact that the measurement process itself is not described by quantum mechanics. The idea of decoherence or loss of quantum coherence — signifying transition from the quantum to the classical realm by the coupling to an environment — within the quantum mechanical framework at zero temperature is thus extremely fundamental. Despite its glaring necessity, most studies of decoherence are done in the high temperature (classical) limit for the environment. Any phenomenology which depicts zero temperature decoherence is thus essential to foundational problems [2] of quantum theory.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. California Institute of Technology, 114-36, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA

    P. Mohanty

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  1. P. Mohanty
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA

    Venkat Chandrasekhar

  2. Laboratorium voor Vaste-Stoffysica en Magnetisme, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Chris Van Haesendonck

  3. Institute of Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary

    Alfred Zawadowski

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Mohanty, P. (2001). Electron Decoherence at Zero Temperature. In: Chandrasekhar, V., Van Haesendonck, C., Zawadowski, A. (eds) Kondo Effect and Dephasing in Low-Dimensional Metallic Systems. NATO Science Series, vol 50. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0427-5_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0427-5_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-0401-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-010-0427-5

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