On the connection between classical Levy processes and the description of decoherence in quantum mechanics.

A general connection between the characteristic function of a Levy process and loss of coherence of a massive quantum system interacting
through momentum transfer events with an environment will be put into evidence, relying on Holevo's characterization of quantum dynamical
semigroups in the presence of translational invariance. The relationship with microphysical models and recent experiments on decoherence will also be considered.