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Decoherence and Vacuum Fluctuations

The interference pattern of coherent electrons is effected by coupling to the quantized electromagnetic field. The amplitudes of the interference maxima are changed by a factor which depends upon a double line integral of the photon two-point function around the closed path of the electrons. The interference pattern is sensitive to shifts in the vacuum fluctuations in regions from which the electrons are excluded. Thus this effect combines aspects of both the Casimir and the Aharonov-Bohm effects. The coupling to the quantized electromagnetic field tends to decrease the amplitude of the interference oscillations, and hence is a form of decoherence. The contributions due to photon emission and to vacuum fluctuations may be separately identified. It is to be expected that photon emission leads to decoherence, as it can reveal which path an electron takes. It is less obvious that vacuum fluctuations also can cause decoherence. What is directly observable is a shift in the fluctuations due, for example, to the presence of a conducting plate. In the case of electrons moving parallel to conducting boundaries, the dominant decohering influence is that of the vacuum fluctuations. The shift in the interference amplitudes can be of the order of a few percent, so experimental verification of this effect may be possible. The possibility of using this effect to probe the interior of matter, e.g., to determine the electrical conductivity of a rod by means of electrons encircling it is discussed. (Presented at the Conference on Fundamental Problems in Quantum Theory, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, June 18-22, 1994.)