Quantum Decoherence and Weak Localization at Low Temperatures

dc.creatorGolubev, Dmitrii S.
dc.creatorZaikin, Andrei D.
dc.date1997-12-17
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-25T23:38:58Z
dc.descriptionWe develope a theory of a fundamental effect of the interaction-induced decoherence of the electron wave function in a disordered metal. With the aid of the Keldysh technique and the path integral formalism we derive a formally exact equation of motion for the electron density matrix in the presence of interaction. We demonstrate that the effect of interaction of the electron with other electrons and lattice ions in a disordered metal is equivalent to that of an effective dissipative environment. Quantum noise of this environment causes quantum decoherence even at T=0. Our analysis explicitely accounts for the Pauli principle which plays an important role for inelastic scattering processes but turns out not to affect quantum decoherence. Our results seriously challenge the existence of strong localization in low dimensional disordered metals.
dc.descriptionRevTeX, 25 pages
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/9712203
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/9712203
dc.identifier.urihttps://dspace.dare.co.zw/handle/123456789/100283
dc.subjectCondensed Matter
dc.titleQuantum Decoherence and Weak Localization at Low Temperatures
dc.typetext

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