Zeno and anti-Zeno effects for quantum Brownian motion

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the occurrence of the Zeno and anti-Zeno effects for quantum Brownian motion. We single out the parameters of both the system and the reservoir governing the crossover between Zeno and anti-Zeno dynamics. We demonstrate that, for high reservoir temperatures, the short time behaviour of environment induced decoherence is the ultimate responsible for the occurrence of either the Zeno or the anti-Zeno effect. Finally we suggest a way to manipulate the decay rate of the system and to observe a controlled continuous passage from decay suppression to decay acceleration using engineered reservoirs in the trapped ion context .