Spin-flip effects in a parallel-coupled double quantum dot molecule

We investigate theoretically the electronic transport through a parallel-coupled double quantum dot (DQD) molecule attached to metallic electrodes, in which the spin-flip scattering on each quantum dot is considered. Special attention is paid to the effects of the intradot spin-flip processes on the linear conductance by using the equation of motion approach for Green’s functions. When a weak spin-flip scattering on each quantum dot is present, the single Fano peak splits into two Fano peaks, and the Breit–Wigner resonance may be suppressed slightly. When the spin-flip scattering strength on each quantum dot becomes strong, the linear conductance spectrum consists of two Breit–Wigner peaks and two Fano peaks due to the quantum interference effects. The positions and shapes of these resonant peaks can be controlled by using the magnetic flux through the quantum device.     

On Wigner functions and a damped star product in dissipative phase-space quantum mechanics

Dito and Turrubiates recently introduced an interesting model of the dissipative quantum mechanics of a damped harmonic oscillator in phase space. Its key ingredient is a non-Hermitian deformation of the Moyal star product with the damping constant as deformation parameter. We compare the Dito-Turrubiates scheme with phase-space quantum mechanics (or deformation quantization) based on other star products, and extend it to incorporate Wigner functions. The deformed (or damped) star product is related to a complex Hamiltonian, and so necessitates a modified equation of motion involving complex conjugation. We find that with this change the Wigner function satisfies the classical equation of motion. This seems appropriate since non-dissipative systems with quadratic Hamiltonians share this property.     

Quantum corrections to the entropy in a driven quantum Brownian motion model

The quantum Brownian motion model is a typical model in the study of nonequilibrium quantum thermodynamics. Entropy is one of the most fundamental physical concepts in thermodynamics.In this work, by solving the quantum Langevin equation, we study the von Neumann entropy of a particle undergoing quantum Brownian motion. We obtain the analytical expression of the time evolution of the Wigner function in terms of the initial Wigner function. The result is applied to the thermodynamic equilibrium initial state, which reproduces its classical counterpart in the high temperature limit. Based on these results, for those initial states having well-defined classical counterparts, we obtain the explicit expression of the quantum corrections to the entropy in the weak coupling limit. Moreover, we find that for the thermodynamic equilibrium initial state, all terms odd in h are exactly zero. Our results bring important insights to the understanding of entropy in open quantum systems.     

The analysis of rovibrational motion equations of a diatomic molecule in the linear regime

The motion equations of diatomic molecules are here extended from the absolute vibrational case to a more general and real rotational and vibrational (rovibrational) case. The rovibrational Hamiltonian is heuristically formed by substituting the respective number and angular momentum operators for the vibrational and rotational quantum numbers in the energy eigenvalues of a diatomic molecule which was first introduced by Dunham. The motion equations of observable quantities such as the position and linear momentum are then determined by implementing the well-known Heisenberg relation in quantum mechanics. We face with the second-order imaginary differential equations for describing the temporal variations of the relative position and the linear momentum of two oscillating atoms, which are coupled in the x–y horizontal plane. The possible rovibrational oscillations are distinguished by the three quantum numbers n, l and m associated with the energy and angular momentum quantities. It is finally demonstrated that the simultaneous solutions of rovibrational equations satisfy the energy conservation during all quantised oscillations of a diatomic molecule in space.     

Analytical scheme calculations of angular momentum coupling and recoupling coefficients

We investigate the Scheme programming language opportunities to analytically calculate the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients, Wigner 6j and 9j symbols, and general recoupling coefficients that are used in the quantum theory of angular momentum. The considered coefficients are calculated by a direct evaluation of the sum formulas. The calculation results for large values of quantum angular momenta were compared with analogous calculations with FORTRAN and Java programming languages. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Floating Wigner molecules and possible phase transitions in quantum dots

A floating Wigner crystal differs from the standard one by a spatial averaging over positions of the Wigner-crystal lattice. It has the same internal structure as the fixed crystal, but contrary to it, takes into account rotational and/or translational symmetry of the underlying jellium background. We study properties of a floating Wigner molecule in few-electron spin-polarized quantum dots, and show that the floating solid has the lower energy than the standard Wigner crystal with fixed lattice points. We also argue that internal rotational symmetry of individual dots can be broken in arrays of quantum dots, due to degenerate ground states and inter-dot Coulomb coupling. Received 12 September 2001 / Received in final form 24 April 2002 Published online 9 July 2002     

Minimum uncertainty states in angular momentum and angle variables for charged particles in structured electromagnetic fields

We study the phase-space properties of a charged particle in a static electromagnetic field exhibiting vortex pairs with complementary topological charges and in a pure gauge field. A stationary solution of the Schrödinger equation that minimizes the uncertainty relations for angular momentum and trigonometric functions of the phase is obtained. It does not exhibit vortices and the angular momentum is due to the gauge field only. Increasing the topological charge of the vortices increases the regions where the Wigner function in the angle–angular momentum plane takes negative values, and thus enhances the quantum character of the dynamics.     

A new parametrized quantum distribution function and its time development

We discuss a new general class of quantum distribution functions characterized by an arbitrary parameter b. The values b = -1, 0, 1 correspond to the anti-standard (Kirkwood), the Wigner, and the standard distribution functions, respectively. An analytic form of the equation of motion is derived. We conclude that, for time-dependent problems involving a potential which is a function of coordinates only, the Wigner distribution function is the optimum one to use, from a simplicity standpoint.     

Wigner Distribution Function for the Time-Dependent Quadratic-Hamiltonian Quantum System using the Lewis–Riesenfeld Invariant Operator

We investigate the Wigner distribution function of the general time-dependent quadratic-Hamiltonian quantum system with the Lewis–Riesenfeld invariant operator method. The Wigner distribution function of the system in Fock state, coherent state, squeezed state, and thermal state are derived. We apply our study to the one-dimensional motion of a Brownian particle and to the driven oscillator with strongly pulsating mass.PACS: 03.65.-w, 03.65.Ca     

Signatures for a classical to quantum transition of a driven nonlinear nanomechanical resonator

We seek the first indications that a nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) is entering the quantum domain as its mass and temperature are decreased. We find them by studying the transition from classical to quantum behavior of a driven nonlinear Duffing resonator. Numerical solutions of the equations of motion, operating in the bistable regime of the resonator, demonstrate that the quantum Wigner function gradually deviates from the corresponding classical phase-space probability density. These clear differences that develop due to nonlinearity can serve as experimental signatures, in the near future, that NEMS resonators are entering the quantum domain.     

Deformation quantization of the Pais–Uhlenbeck fourth order oscillator

We analyze the quantization of the Pais–Uhlenbeck fourth order oscillator within the framework of deformation quantization. Our approach exploits the Noether symmetries of the system by proposing integrals of motion as the variables to obtain a solution to the ?$?$-genvalue equation, namely the Wigner function. We also obtain, by means of a quantum canonical transformation the wave function associated to the Schrödinger equation of the system. We show that unitary evolution of the system is guaranteed by means of the quantum canonical transformation and via the properties of the constructed Wigner function, even in the so called equal frequency limit of the model, in agreement with recent results.     

Quantum dynamics of a nano-rod under compression

A nano-rod under compression, which is capacitively coupled to a Cooper-pair box, can be modelled in terms of a quartic oscillator linearly interacting with a tunnelling pseudo-spin. We have integrated numerically the quantum dynamics of this system in the partial Wigner representation and calculated the pseudo-spin population difference. Depending on the coupling, we have verified that the quantum tunnelling of the oscillator can lead to a more effective reduction of the Rabi oscillation amplitude of the pseudo-spin. Such findings suggest an experimental set-up that might be able to discriminate between the quantum and the classical motion of a nano-rod.     

A Time-Dependent Wavepacket Method for Photodissociation Dynamics of Triatomic Molecule

We report a time-dependent quantum wavepacket theory employed to interpret the photoabsorption spectrum of the N20 molecule in terms of the nuclear motion on the upper 21A＇ and 11A＂ potential energy surfaces. The N2-O bond breaks upon excitation leading to dissociation. The total angular momentum is treated correctly taking into account the vector property of the electric field of the exciting radiation.     

Evaluation of the smoothed interference pattern under conditions of ray chaos

A ray-based approach has been considered for evaluation of the coarse-grained Wigner function. From the viewpoint of wave propagation theory this function represents the local spectrum of the wave field smoothed over some spatial and angular scales. A very simple formula has been considered which expresses the smoothed Wigner function through parameters of ray trajectories. Although the formula is ray-based, it nevertheless has no singularities at caustics and its numerical implementation does not require looking for eigenrays. These advantages are especially important under conditions of ray chaos when fast growing numbers of eigenrays and caustics are the important factors spoiling applicability of standard semiclassical approaches already at short ranges. Similar factors restrict applicability of some semiclassical predictions in quantum mechanics at times exceeding the so-called "logarithm break time." Numerical calculations have been carried out for a particular model of range-dependent waveguide where ray trajectories exhibit chaotic motion. These calculations have confirmed our conjecture that by choosing large enough smoothing scales, i.e., by sacrificing small details of the interference pattern, one can substantially enhance the validity region of ray theory. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics.     

The Angular Momentum Dilemma and Born–Jordan Quantization

The rigorous equivalence of the Schrödinger and Heisenberg pictures requires that one uses Born–Jordan quantization in place of Weyl quantization. We confirm this by showing that the much discussed “ angular momentum dilemma” disappears if one uses Born–Jordan quantization. We argue that the latter is the only physically correct quantization procedure. We also briefly discuss a possible redefinition of phase space quantum mechanics, where the usual Wigner distribution has to be replaced with a new quasi-distribution associated with Born–Jordan quantization, and which has proven to be successful in time-frequency analysis.     

Elimination of body-frame singularities in the separation of three collective angles in quantum N-body problems

The appearance of body-frame singularities in gauge potentials when three collective angles are separated by means of Wigner D-functions is a fundamental difficulty in the quantum N-body problem. We show that the use of the overcomplete basis of minimal multipolar harmonics allows these singularities to be avoided at the expense of increasing the dimension of the resulting system of coupled equations describing the internal motion of the system.     

An angular frequency dependence on the Aharonov–Casher geometric phase

A quantum effect characterized by a dependence of the angular frequency associated with the confinement of a neutral particle to a quantum ring on the quantum numbers of the system and the Aharonov–Casher geometric phase is discussed. Then, it is shown that persistent spin currents can arise in a two-dimensional quantum ring in the presence of a Coulomb-type potential. A particular contribution to the persistent spin currents arises from the dependence of the angular frequency on the geometric quantum phase.     

Path sums for Brownian motion and quantum mechanics

A treatment is given of classical Brownian motion in phase space based on path summation. It treats efficiently the usual exactly solvable cases when the external force is linear in momentum or position. The method might be useful for generating approximations for more complicated external forces. A path sum formalism is given to generate the Wigner propagator in the Wigner-Weyl phase space formulation of quantum mechanics. The short-time Brownian and Wigner propagators bear a generic similarity.