Lax-Phillips Theory and Quantum Evolution

Abstract

The scattering theory of Lax and Phillips, designed primarily for hyperbolic systems, such as electromagnetic or acoustic waves, is described. This theory provides a realization of the theorem of Foias and Nagy; there is a subspace of the Hilbert space in which the unitary evolution of the system, restricted to this subspace, is realized as a semigroup. The embedding of the quantum theory into this structure, carried out by Flesia and Piron, is reviewed. We show how the density matrix for an effectively pure state can evolve to an effectively mixed state (decoherence) in this framework. Necessary conditions are given for the realization of the relation between the spectrum of the generator of the semigroup and the singularities of the $S$-matrix (in energy representation). It is shown that these conditions may be met in the Liouville space formulation of quantum evolution, and in the Hilbert space of relativistic quantum theory.