Transition from Quantum to Classical Information in a Superfluid

A. Granik, G. Chapline

Published 2003-02-03, updated 2003-02-11Version 2

Whereas the entropy of any deterministic classical system described by a principle of least action is zero, one can assign a "quantum information" to quantum mechanical degree of freedom equal to Hausdorff area of the deviation from a classical path. This raises the question whether superfluids carry quantum information. We show that in general the transition from the classical to quantum behavior depends on the probing length scale, and occurs for microscopic length scales, except when the interactions between the particles are very weak. This transition explains why, on macroscopic length scales, physics is described by classical equations.