Desorption-induced decoherence of nanoparticle motion

Abstract

We derive the quantum master equation predicting how the translational and rotational dynamics of a nanoparticle is affected by the emission of surface adsorbates. This is motivated by recent experiments which prepared the motion of internally hot silica particles in the deep quantum regime. In the limit of a well localized nanoparticle the ro-translational dynamics can be characterized by diffusion rates in quantitative agreement with classical expectations. The theory is also suited to describe the decoherence effect of outgassing and sublimation.