Non-Markovian quantum master and Fokker-Planck equation for gravitational systems and gravitational decoherence
Phys. Rev. D 112, 046021 – Published 27 August, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/b4n2-426h
Abstract
A quantum master equation describing the stochastic dynamics of a quantum massive system interacting with a quantum gravitational field is useful for the investigation of quantum gravitational and quantum informational issues such as the quantum nature of gravity, gravity-induced entanglement, and gravitational decoherence. Studies of the decoherence of quantum systems by an electromagnetic field shows that a lower temperature environment is more conducive to successful quantum information processing experiments. Likewise, the quantum nature of (perturbative) gravity is far better revealed at lower temperatures than high, minimizing the corruptive effects of thermal noise. In this work, generalizing earlier results of the Markovian ABH master equation [Classical Quantum Gravity 30, 165007 (2013); Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 021302 (2013)], which is valid only for high temperatures, we derive a non-Markovian quantum master equation for the reduced density matrix, and the associated Fokker-Planck equation for the Wigner distribution function, for the stochastic dynamics of two masses following quantum trajectories, interacting with a graviton field, including the effects of graviton noise, valid for all temperatures. We follow the influence functional approach exemplified in the derivation of the non-Markovian Hu-Paz-Zhang master equation [Phys. Rev. D45, 2843 (1992); Phys. Rev. D 49, 6612 (1994)] for quantum Brownian motion. We find that in the low temperature limit, the off-diagonal elements of the reduced density matrix decrease in time logarithmically for the zero temperature part and quadratically in time for the temperature-dependent part, which is distinctly different from the Markovian case. We end with a summary of our findings and a discussion on how this problem studied here is related to the quantum stochastic equation derived in [Phys. Rev. D 74, 024017 (2006)] for gravitational self force studies, and to quantum optomechanics where experimental observation of gravitational decoherence and entanglement may be implemented.
