Quantum Institute: Visitor Schedule

The Quantum Lunch is regularly held on Thursdays in the Theoretical Division Conference Room, TA-3, Building 123, Room 121.
For more information, contact Diego Dalvit.

February 22, 2007
12:30 PM

Robert B. Griffiths
Carnegie-Mellon University

Decoherence and Information

Abstract

The conventional approach to decoherence of a quantum system interacting with its environment focuses on off-diagonal matrix elements of its reduced density operator in a particular (pointer) basis. While it has provided many valuable insights, this analysis suffers from certain limitations, and lacks a firm basis in fundamental quantum theory. Information-theoretic ideas formulated using a consistent approach to probabilities for quantum systems, in particular the notion of various incompatible types of quantum information, look promising for overcoming some of these limitations, and providing new insights into the time development of open quantum systems.