Algorithm of Reduction

Abstract

We show that the von Neumann's algorithm of reduction (i.e. the algorithm of calculating the density matrix of the observable subsystem from the density matrix of the closed quantum system) corresponds to the special approximation at which the unobservable subsystem is supposed to be in the steady state of minimum information (infinite temperature). We formulate the generalized algorithm of reduction that includes as limiting cases the von Neumann's reduction and the self-congruent correlated reduction most corresponding to the quantum nondemolition measurement. We demonstrate the correlation in dynamics of subsystems with exactly soluble models of quantum optics: 1) about the dynamics of a pair of interacting two-level atoms, and 2) about the dynamics of a two-level atom interacting with a single-mode resonant field.