Decoherence in Pre-Big-Bang Cosmology

Mod.Phys.Lett. A12 (1997) 597-612 We analyze the quantum cosmology of the simplest pre--big--bang model without dilaton potential. In addition to the minisuperspace variables we include inhomogeneous dilaton fluctuations and determine their wave function on a semiclassical background. This wave function is used to calculate the reduced density matrix and to find criteria for the loss of decoherence. It is shown that coherence between different backgrounds can always be achieved by a specific choice of vacua though generically decoherence can be expected. In particular, we discuss the implications of these results on the ``exit problem'' of pre--big--bang cosmology.