 Quantum decoherence

Quantum decoherence is the suppression of observable quantum phase relations through interaction with unobserved degrees of freedom. A simple model starts with $(a|0⟩+b|1⟩)|E⟩$ and correlates the alternatives with environmental states:Taking the partial trace multiplies the off-diagonal entry of the reduced density matrix by $⟨E_1|E_0⟩$. If the environmental records become nearly orthogonal, interference between the two alternatives becomes locally inaccessible even though the joint state can remain pure.

Preserving diagonal populations is a property of dephasing, not a general requirement for quantum decoherence. An amplitude damping channel, for example, changes an excited-state population as ${\rho }_{11}\mapsto (1-p){\rho }_{11}$ while suppressing coherence as ${\rho }_{01}\mapsto \sqrt{1-p}{\rho }_{01}$. Thus energy relaxation and quantum decoherence can occur together, with different rates. Pure dephasing instead preserves populations in its selected pointer basis.^[ref]