DECOHERENCE, CHAOS, AND THE CORRESPONDENCE PRINCIPLE

We present evidence that decoherence can produce a smooth quantum-to-c lassical transition in nonlinear dynamical systems. High-resolution tr acking of quantum and classical evolutions reveals differences in expe ctation values of corresponding observables. Solutions of master equat ions demonstrate that decoherence destroys quantum interference in Wig ner distributions and washes out fine structure in classical distribut ions, bringing the two closer together. Correspondence between quantum and classical expectation values is also reestablished.