Decoherence in a system of strongly coupled quantum oscillators. I. Symmetric network

Abstract

In this work we analyze the coherence dynamics and estimate decoherence times of quantum states in a network composed of $N$ coupled dissipative quantum oscillators. We assume a symmetric network where all oscillators are coupled to each other with the same coupling strength. Master equations are derived for regimes of both weak and strong coupling between the oscillators. The strong coupling regime is characterized by the coupling strength between the oscillators or by the number of oscillators in the network. The decoherence times of particular states of the network are computed and the results are clarified by analyzing the processes of state swap and recurrence of reduced states of the network together with the linear entropies of the joint and reduced systems.