Rydberg Atom Coherent States

Abstract

Rydberg atom coherent states are constructed a la Klauder. The coherent state parameters are interpreted in terms of classical orbit characteristics. The time evolving coherent state expectation value for the position vector in spherical polar coordinates explicitly manifests Kepler's third law in the classical correspondence limit. For small values of the effective principal quantum number, dephasing occurs rapidly. However, for celestial bodies, appreciable dephasing takes place on a time scale many times longer than the age of the universe.