| Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 76, Number 4, November 2006
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 541 - 546 | |
| Section | General | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2006-10308-1 | |
| Published online | 18 October 2006 | |
An exactly solvable model of an avalanche-type measuring device
The Harrison M. Randall Laboratory of Physics, The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1040, USA
Received:
16
April
2006
Accepted:
19
September
2006
A quantum many-body model is presented with features similar to those of certain particle detectors. The energy spectrum contains a single, thermodynamically metastable “ready” state and macroscopically-distinct, ground “pointer” states. Transitions into classical-like states can be triggered by a single particle with the help of the thermal bath. Schrödinger cat states are associated with superpositions of inequivalent vacua, thus suggestion a relationship between wave function collapse and the dynamics of symmetry breaking in phase transformations.
PACS: 03.65.Ta – Foundations of quantum mechanics; measurement theory / 03.70.+k – Theory of quantized fields
© EDP Sciences, 2006
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