The Omega Effect for Neutral Mesons

Abstract

The possible role of decoherence due to space-time foam is discussed within the context of two models, one based on string/brane theory. and the other based on properties of black hole horizons in general relativity. It is argued that the density matrix satisfies a dissipative master equation, primarily from the study of renormalization group flows in non-critical string theory.This interpretation of the zero mode of the Liouville field as time leads necessarily to the CPT operator being ill defined. One striking consequence is that the quantum mechanical correlations of pair states of neutral mesons produced in meson factories are changed from the usual EPR state. The magnitude of this departure from EPR correlations is characterised by a parameter $\omega$. The predicted value of $\omega$ is very small or zero. However it is shown explicitly that the the non-vanishing of $\omega$ is only a feature of the model based on string/brane theory.