Absence of decoherence in the complex-potential approach to nuclear scattering

Time-dependent density-matrix propagation is used to demonstrate, in a schematic model of an open quantum system, that the complex potential approach and the Lindblad dissipative dynamics are not equivalent. While the former preserves coherence, it is destroyed in the Lindblad dissipative dynamics. Quantum decoherence is the key aspect that makes the difference between the two approaches, indicating that the complex potential model is inadequate for a consistent description of open quantum-system dynamics. It is suggested that quantum decoherence should always be explicitly included when modeling low-energy nuclear collision dynamics within a truncated model space of reaction channels.