Abstract
We examine the relationship between the decoherence of quantum-mechanical histories of a closed system (as discussed by Gell-Mann and Hartle) and environmentally induced diagonalization of the density operator for an open system. We study a definition of decoherence which incorporates both of these ideas, and show that it leads to a consistent probabilistic interpretation of the reduced density operator.
- Received 8 January 1993
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.47.5430
©1993 American Physical Society