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Fausto Borgonovi |
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Università Cattolica - Brescia |
Abstract
When a quantum nonlinear system is linearly coupled with an infinite bath of harmonic oscillators, quantum coherence of the system is lost on a decoherence time-scale $\tau_D$. Nevertheless, quantum effects may still survive environment-induced decoherence, and be observed for times much larger than the decoherence time-scale. In particular, we show that the Ehrenfest time, which characterizes a departure of quantum dynamics for observables from the corresponding classical dynamics, can be observed for a quasi-classical nonlinear oscillator for times $\tau \gg\tau_D$. We discuss this observation in relation to recent experiments on quantum nonlinear systems in the quasi-classical region of parameters.