L. Bonci et al., NONLINEAR SCHRODINGER-EQUATION AND WAVE-FUNCTION COLLAPSE - AN UNRELIABLE CONSEQUENCE OF THE SEMICLASSICAL APPROXIMATION, Physical review. A, 47(5), 1993, pp. 3538-3545
We consider the spin-boson model as a measurement device, with the 1/2
-spin system acting as a pointer and the influence of the environment
simulated by means of the interaction between the 1/2-spin system and
a dissipative oscillator. In accordance with the recent finding of Bon
illa and Guinea [L. L. Bonilla and F. Guinea, Phys. Rev. A 45, 7718 (1
992)] the assumption that the oscillator is classical results, under s
pecific conditions, in the occurrence of a wave-function collapse. How
ever, our theoretical analysis shows that the wave-function collapse i
s provoked by the action exerted by the 1/2-spin system on the oscilla
tor (reaction field) and that the reaction field is as intense as the
quantum-mechanical fluctuation neglected by the semiclassical approxim
ation. A numerical treatment shows that no collapse occurs within a fu
lly-quantum-mechanical treatment.