title: Distinguishability and chiral stability in solution: effects of decoherence and intermolecular interactions.
abstract: We examine the effect of decoherence and intermolecular interactions (chiral discrimination energies) on the chiral stability and the distinguishability of initially pure versus mixed states in an open chiral system. Under a two-level approximation for a system, intermolecular interactions are introduced by a mean-field theory, and interaction between a system and an environment is modeled by a continuous measurement of a population difference between the two chiral states. The resultant equations are explored for various parameters, with emphasis on the combined effects of the initial condition of the system, the chiral discrimination energies, and the decoherence in determining: the distinguishability as measured by a population difference between the initially pure and mixed states, and the decoherence process; the chiral stability as measured by the purity decay; and the stationary state of the system at times long relative to the time scales of the system dynamics and of the environmental effects.
authors.affiliation: Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5T 3M7, Canada.
authors.forename: Heekyung
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador A1C 5S7, Canada.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Wardlaw
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6H 5B7, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexei M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Frolov
mesh_terms: D008962:Models, Theoretical; D055585:Physical Phenomena; D011789:Quantum Theory; D012996:Solutions / Q000737:chemistry*; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D012996:Solutions