Quasiclassical Quantization of the Motion of a Particle in the Presence of a Drag Force Proportional to the Square of the Velocity

Abstract

The quasiclassical one-dimensional motion of a particle in a medium, where the drag force is proportional to the square of the particle velocity, is considered using the Caldirola–Kanai approach. The coherent state of the particle in the presence of a constant conservative force in addition to the drag force is studied. It has been shown that the wave packet undergoes quantum extension to a certain limit, forming a steady propagating profile. Thus, the drag force suppresses the quantum properties of the particle, and the classical features become more pronounced in its motion with time. This property allows one to consider such a medium as a classical instrument continuously measuring the state of the particle. For this reason, the restriction of the spatial extension of the wavefunction can be interpreted as one of the manifestations of the quantum Zeno effect.