Partial traces in decoherence and in interpretation: What do reduced states refer to?

The interpretation of the concept of reduced state is a subtle issue that has relevant consequences when the task is the interpretation of quantum mechanics itself. The aim of this paper is to argue that reduced states are not the quantum states of subsystems in the same sense as quantum states are states of the whole composite system. After clearly stating the problem, our argument is developed in three stages. First, we consider the phenomenon of environment-induced decoherence as an example of the case in which the subsystems interact with each other; we show that decoherence does not solve the measurement problem precisely because the reduced state of the measuring apparatus is not its quantum state. Second, the non-interacting case is illustrated in the context of no-collapse interpretations, in which we show that certain well-known experimental results cannot be accounted for due to the fact that the reduced states of the measured system and the measuring apparatus are conceived as their quantum states. Finally, we prove that reduced states are a kind of coarse-grained states, and for this reason they cancel the correlations of the subsystem with other subsystems with which it interacts or is entangled.Comment: 26 page

Suppression of decoherence in a generalization of the spin-bath model

The works on decoherence due to spin baths usually agree in studying a one-spin system in interaction with a large spin bath. In this paper we generalize those models by analyzing a many-spin system and by studying decoherence or its suppression in function of the relation between the numbers of spins of the system and the bath. This model may help to identify clusters of particles unaffected by decoherence, which, as a consequence, can be used to store quantum information.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure

The effect of random coupling coefficients on decoherence

The aim of this letter is to analyze the effect on decoherence of the randomness of the coupling coefficients involved in the interaction Hamiltonian. By studying the spin-bath model with computer simulations, we show that such randomness greatly improves the "efficiency" of decoherence and, then, its physical meaning deserves to be considered.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure