Entanglement and quantal coherence: Study of two limiting cases of rapid system-bath interactions

Abstract

The dynamics of a system coupled to a thermal bath was discussed with respect to the addition of an energy excitation degree of freedom. An investigation of the limit Q→ ∞, where the interaction rate with the bath was much greater than all free oscillation rates for the system, was done. The effect of system-bath interactions on entanglement in bipartite system states was computed by using an extended master equation. © Oxford University Press 2002.