Parallel decoherence in composite quantum systems

Abstract

For the standard Quantum Brownian Motion (QBM) model, we point out the occurrence of simultaneous (parallel), mutually irreducible and autonomous decoherence processes. Besides the standard, one Brownian particle, we show there is at least another one system undergoing the dynamics described by the QBM effect. We do this by selecting the two mutually irreducible, global structures (decompositions into subsystems) of the composite system of the QBM model. A generalization of this observation is a new, challenging task in the foundations of the decoherence theory. We do not place our findings in any interpretational context.