Quantum jumps as decoherent histories

Quantum open systems are described in the Markovian limit by master equations in Lindblad form. I argue that common “quantum jumps” techniques, which solve the master equation by unraveling its evolution into stochastic trajectories in Hilbert space, correspond closely to a particular set of decoherent histories. This is illustrated by a simple model of a photon counting experiment. Recently a great deal of work has been done in quantum optics on “quantum jump” simulations of continuously measured systems with dissipation [1–5]. In this technique, a system described by a master equation for the reduced density operator ρ in the Markovian approximation [6],