The Emergence of Classical Dynamics in a Quantum World

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dc.creatorBhattacharya, Tanmoy
dc.creatorHabib, Salman
dc.creatorJacobs, Kurt
dc.date2004-07-14
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T06:10:16Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T06:10:16Z
dc.descriptionEver since the advent of quantum mechanics, it has been clear that the atoms composing matter do not obey Newton's laws. Instead, their behavior is described by the Schroedinger equation. Surprisingly though, until recently, no clear explanation was given for why everyday objects, which are merely collections of atoms, are observed to obey Newton's laws. It would seem that, if quantum mechanics explains all the properties of atoms accurately, they, too, should obey quantum mechanics. This reasoning led some scientists to believe in a distinct macroscopic, or ``big and complicated,'' world in which quantum mechanics fails and classical mechanics takes over, although there has never been experimental evidence for such a failure. Even those who insisted that Newtonian mechanics would somehow emerge from the underlying quantum mechanics as the system became increasingly macroscopic were hindered by the lack of adequate experimental and theoretical tools. In the last decade, however, this quantum-to-classical transition has become accessible to experimental study and quantitative description, and the resulting insights are the subject of this article.
dc.description16 pages, 4 figures. This is an introductory pedagogical article which first appeared in Los Alamos Science in 2002
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0407096
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0407096
dc.identifierLos Alamos Science 27, 110 (2002)
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/92214
dc.subjectQuantum Physics
dc.titleThe Emergence of Classical Dynamics in a Quantum World
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