Quantum damping of position due to energy measurements

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Abstract
The quantum theory for measurements of energy is introduced and its consequences for the average position of monitored dynamical systems are analyzed. It turns out that energy measurements lead to a localization of the expectation values of other observables. This is manifested, in the case of position, as a damping of the motion without classical analog. Quantum damping of position for an atom bouncing on a reflecting surface in the presence of a homogeneous gravitational field is dealt with in detail and the connection with an experiment already performed in the classical regime is studied. We show that quantum damping is testable provided that the same measurement strength obtained in the experimental verification of the quantum Zeno effect in atomic spectroscopy [W. M. Itano et al., Phys. Rev. A 41, 2295 (1990)] is made available. © 1996 The American Physical Society.
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