Quantum coherence of relativistic wavepackets in electromagnetic vacuum

Abstract

Abstract We have developed a linearized effective theory with quantum mechanical Gaussian wavepacket of a charged relativistic particle coupled to quantum electromagnetic fields at a scale well below the Schwinger limit. Using this effective theory, we study the quantum decoherence of single electrons at rest due to their interactions with electromagnetic vacuum. According to the existing data of electron interference experiments in electron microscopes, the values of the parameters in our effective theory are chosen. With these values, we find that weak decoherence by vacuum fluctuations may have blurred the interference pattern in Ref. [1].