MICROSCOPIC FOUNDATION OF A FINITE-TEMPERATURE STOCHASTIC SCHRODINGER-EQUATION

We present a microscopic derivation of a stochastic Schrodinger equati on for an oscillator valid at finite temperatures. Damping and noise a rise from interaction with a heat bath. Vacuum and thermal noise drive the wavevector in rather different ways which we illuminate by treati ng the fate of an initial Schrodinger cat state. While the decoherence of the two macroscopically distinct components of such a state is the rmally enhanced, the rise of a classically interpretable signal indica ting 'life' or 'death' is not. Suitable averages over the noises could be obtained from a well known master equation and demand interpretati on in terms of ensembles, but results contingent on single realization s of the noises may be related to single runs of experiments.