Decoherence in matter-wave Talbot interference: a hydrodynamic probability-flow analysis
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Quantum Physics arXiv:2605.14181 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 13 May 2026] Title:Decoherence in matter-wave Talbot interference: a hydrodynamic probability-flow analysis Authors:David Navia, Ángel S. Sanz View a PDF of the paper titled Decoherence in matter-wave Talbot interference: a hydrodynamic probability-flow analysis, by David Navia and 1 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:We investigate the suppression of matter-wave Talbot interference under environmentally induced decoherence. The system is modeled as an atomic beam diffracted by a periodic grating, whose transverse dynamics is described within the paraxial approximation. Environmental coupling is introduced through an effective open-system model that exponentially damps spatial coherences between diffracted components, allowing a continuous interpolation between the coherent Talbot regime and the incoherent far-field diffraction limit. Besides the usual intensity and transverse-momentum distributions, we analyze the local probability flow associated with the diffracted matter wave. The corresponding Bohmian, or hydrodynamic, representation is used here as a diagnostic tool fully equivalent to the standard quantum description, with no additional assumptions beyond the probability current of the paraxial wave field. In the present Talbot geometry, this analysis shows how decoherence progressively suppresses the carpet structure and smooths the transverse-momentum distribution, while the flow may remain organized into channels determined by the grating periodicity. The results illustrate, in a periodic matter-wave Talbot geometry, that the loss of visible interference and the loss of dynamical pathway separation need not occur simultaneously. In particular, flux-channel structures can persist in parameter regimes where multi-slit interference features have already been strongly reduced. This distinction provides a local characterization of decoherence in matter-wave Talbot interferometry and complements previous trajectory-based analyses of coherence loss in simpler interference and confined geometries. Comments: Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph); Optics (physics.optics) Cite as: arXiv:2605.14181 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2605.14181v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.14181 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Angel S. Sanz [view email] [v1] Wed, 13 May 2026 23:02:42 UTC (12,657 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Decoherence in matter-wave Talbot interference: a hydrodynamic probability-flow analysis, by David Navia and 1 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-05 Change to browse by: physics physics.atom-ph physics.optics References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)