Decoherence rates for Galilean covariant dynamics

Abstract

We introduce a measure of decoherence for a class of density operators. For Gaussian density operators in dimension one it coincides with an index used by Morikawa (1990). Spatial decoherence rates are derived for three large classes of the Galilean covariant quantum semigroups introduced by Holevo. We also characterize the relaxation to a Gaussian state for these dynamics and give a theorem for the convergence of the Wigner function to the probability distribution of the classical analog of the process.