De Sitter group as a symmetry for optical decoherence

Abstract

Stokes parameters form a Minkowskian 4-vector under various optical transformations. As a consequence, the resulting two-by-two density matrix constitutes a representation of the Lorentz group. The associated Poincar´ e sphere is a geometric representation of the Lorentz group. Since the Lorentz group preserves the determinant of the density matrix, it cannot accommodate the decoherence process through the decaying off-diagonal elements of the density matrix, which yields to an increase in the value of the determinant. It is noted that the O(3, 2) de Sitter group contains two Lorentz subgroups. The change in the determinant in one Lorentz group can be compensated by the other. It is thus possible to describe the decoherence process as a symmetry transformation in the O(3, 2) space. It is shown also that these two coupled Lorentz groups can serve as a concrete example of Feynman’s rest of the universe.