Dressed infrared quantum information

Abstract

We study information-theoretic aspects of the infrared sector of quantum electrodynamics, using the dressed-state approach pioneered by Chung, Kibble, Faddeev-Kulish, and others. In this formalism QED has an IR-finite S-matrix describing the scattering of electrons dressed by coherent states of photons. We show that measurements sensitive only to the outgoing electronic degrees of freedom will experience decoherence in the electron momentum basis due to unobservable photons in the dressing. We make some comments on possible refinements of the dressed-state formalism, and how these considerations relate to the black hole information paradox.