Invited Speakers

Benjamin Stickler (Imperial College London) 

Title: Introduction to decoherence in open quantum systems

 

Summary:

While the Schrödinger equation describes the dynamics of isolated quantum systems, real-world systems are always in contact with ambient environments. This leads to thermalisation as well as to decoherence, which can explain the emergence of classical behaviour for objects of increasing size and complexity. This short lecture series will provide the general framework to quantitatively describe the dynamics of open quantum systems and apply it to several practically relevant situations. Amongst others, we will explore the role of decoherence in macroscopic matter-wave interference experiments and discuss the influence of the environment in quantum optomechanics.

 

Keywords: quantum master equation, decoherence and thermalisation, optomechanics

 

intended length: 4 sessions a’ 90 minutes (can be shorter if required)

 

Outline:

Session 1: Introduction & Basics of open quantum systems

Session 2: The monitoring approach

Session 3: Decoherence and thermalisation

Session 4: Macroscopic tests of quantum physics

Organized by

Myungshik Kim (Imperial College London / KIAS)

Contact

Hyemi Kim (hmkim@kias.re.kr)