  Motivated by quantum experiments with nanomechanical systems, the evolution
of a Kerr oscillator with focus on creation of states with a negative Wigner
function is investigated. Using the phase space formalism, results are
presented that demonstrate an asymptotic behavior in the large squeezing regime
for the negativity of a squeezed vacuum state under unitary evolution. The
analysis and model are extended to squeezed vacuum states of open systems,
adding the decoherence effects of damping and dephasing. To increase
experimental relevance, the regime of strong damping is considered. These
effects are investigated, yielding similar asymptotic results for the behavior
of these effects in the large squeezing regime. Combining these results, it is
shown that a weak nonlinearity as compared to damping may be improved by
increasing the squeezing of the initial state. It is also shown that this may
be done without exacerbating the effects of dephasing.
