Abstract
We present an idealized model for a sequence of position measurements, and we then take an appropriate limit in which the measurements become continuous. The measurements lead to fluctuations without systematic dissipation, and they rapidly destroy off-diagonal terms in the position basis; thus the pointer basis is position. A modification of the model incorporates systematic dissipation via a feedback mechanism; in the modified model there is no decay of off-diagonal coherence in the position basis.
- Received 14 May 1987
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.36.5543
©1987 American Physical Society