On the eigenvalue problem associated with Feynman path integration

When the lagrangian is not explicit function of time, the Nth approximation to the propagator may be viewed as the Nth power of anitary operator — the infinitesimal time propagator. We solve the eigenvalue problem associated with the operator for some special cases. In the limit of large N the eigenfunctions are shown to be identical to those of the finite time propagator. We also present an elementary method to evaluate the propagator corresponding to an action function encountered in the study of electron gas in a random potential. The evaluation of this propagator within Feynman's polygonal approach was not possible until recently.     

Path integral approach to the Schrödinger equation with a complex potential

We show that Feynman's path integral method can be extended to include complex potentials by introducing a complex action function. The resulting path integral,which yields the propagator of the corresponding Schrödinger equation, involves only real paths.     

Path integration of a quadratic action with a generalized memory

Path integration of an action representing a harmonic oscillator with a generalized memory is carried out within the framework of Feynman's polygonal approach. The exact propagator obtained is in the form of an exponential integral over a single variable. Closed analytical results are available for special cases of the memory function.     

Path integration of a generalized quadratic action

Path integration of a class of generalized quadratic actions first proposed by Feynman is performed within the framework of Feynman's polygonal path approach. The exact propagator has the form of a free particle propagator with an “effective mass” apart from the normalization factor. Relation between the propagator and the usual Van Vleck-Pauli formula is discussed.     

New approach for solving the Wigner function from the Husimi function in the two-mode entangled state representation

We introduce a new method to calculate the Wigner function when its corresponding Husimi function is given. A new formula is derived for calculating conveniently the Wigner function in two-mode entangled state representation. As application, we derive Wigner functions of some quantum states, such as two-mode entangled state, the electron's two-mode squeezed canonical coherent state, and the electron's coordinate eigenstate.     

Extended Feynman formula for time-dependent forced harmonic oscillator

Horváthy's modification of Feynman's path integral formula is generalized to the time-dependent forced harmonic oscillator. The propagator at caustics is then obtained by using its modified semi-group property. Finally, with our new formula, the propagator for a charged particle in a time-dependent electromagnetic field is evaluated exactly beyond and at caustics.     

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.     

Quark Loop Effects on Dressed Gluon Propagator in Framework of Global Color Symmetry Model

Based on the global color symmetry model (GCM), a method for obtaining the quark loop effects on the dressed gluon propagator in GCM is developed. In the chiral limit, it is found that the dressed gluon propagator containing the quark loop effects in the Nambu-Goldstone and Wigner phases are quite different. In solving the quark self-energy functions in the two different phases and subsequent study of bag constant one should use the above dressed gluon propagator as input. The above approach for obtaining the current quark mass effects on the dressed gluon propagator is quite general and can also be used to calculate the chemical potential dependence of the dressed gluon propagator.     

Weyl Ordering Symbol Method for Studying Wigner Function of the Damping Field

The symbolic method (including normal ordering. antinormal ordering and Weyl ordering symbol) is usually utilized to tackle miscellaneous operators which have different commutative relations. Considering the Weyl ordering symbol’s remarkable properties, we have efficiently and conveniently derived the Wigner distribution function for field damping in a squeezed bath and a vacuum bath respectively, and then examined the decoherence processes from the plots of Wigner function and its contour in quantum phase space. Alternatively, we can employ a general Wigner operator under phase space transform to calculate distribution function and discuss the damping process.     

s-Parameterized phase space distribution for describing no counts registered on a photonic detector

By introducing the generalized Wigner operator for s-parameterized quasiprobability distribution and employing the technique of integration within ordered product (IWOP) of operators (normally ordered, Weyl ordered or antinormally ordered), we derive two new quantum-mechanical formulas for describing no counts registered on a photonic detector when a light field’s density operator ρ is known, one involves ρ’s s-parameterized distribution function, and the other involves ρ’s coherent state mean value, when these information is known then using the new formulas to calculate no-photocount would be convenient.     

Dissipative chaotic quantum maps: Expectation values, correlation functions and the invariant state

I investigate the propagator of the Wigner function for a dissipative chaotic quantum map. I show that a small amount of dissipation reduces the propagator of sufficiently smooth Wigner functions to its classical counterpart, the Frobenius-Perron operator, if . Several consequences arise: the Wigner transform of the invariant density matrix is a smeared out version of the classical strange attractor; time dependent expectation values and correlation functions of observables can be evaluated via hybrid quantum-classical formulae in which the quantum character enters only via the initial Wigner function. If a classical phase-space distribution is chosen for the latter or if the map is iterated sufficiently many times the formulae become entirely classical, and powerful classical trace formulae apply. Received 7 October 1999     

Phase space propagators for quantum operators

The Heisenberg evolution of a given unitary operator corresponds classically to a fixed canonical transformation that is viewed through a moving coordinate system. The operators that form the bases of the Weyl representation and its Fourier transform, the chord representation are, respectively, unitary reflection and translation operators. Thus, the general semiclassical study of unitary operators allows us to propagate arbitrary operators, including density operators, i.e., the Wigner function. The various propagation kernels are different representations of the super-operators which act on the space of operators of a closed quantum system. We here present the mixed semiclassical propagator, that takes translation chords to reflection centres, or vice versa. In contrast to the centre-centre propagator that directly evolves Wigner functions, they are guaranteed to be caustic free, having a simple WKB-like universal form for a finite time, whatever the number of degrees of freedom. Special attention is given to the near-classical region of small chords, since this dominates the averages of observables evaluated through the Wigner function.     

Wigner function for discrete phase space: Exorcising ghost images

We construct, using simple geometrical arguments, a Wigner function defined on a discrete phase space of arbitrary integer Hilbert-space dimension that is free of redundancies. “Ghost images” plaguing other Wigner functions for discrete phase spaces are thus revealed as artifacts. It allows to devise a corresponding phase-space propagator in an unambiguous manner. We apply our definitions to eigenstates and propagator of the quantum baker map. Scars on unstable periodic points of the corresponding classical map become visible with unprecedented resolution.     

Calculation of Partition Function of QCD at Finite Chemical Potential

In equilibrium statistical field theory, the partition function has fundamental importance. In this paper we propose a direct and general method for calculating the partition function and equation of state of QCD at finite chemical potential. It is found that the partition function is totally determined by the dressed quark propagator at finite chemical potential up to a multiplicative constant. From this a criterion for the phase transition between the Nambu and the Wigner phases is obtained. This general method is applied to two specific cases： the free quark theory and QCD with a model dressed quark propagator having confinement features. In the first case, the standard Fermi distribution at T = 0 is reproduced. In the second case, we apply the conclusion in previous works to obtain the dressed quark propagator at finite chemical potential and find the unphysical result that the baryon number density vanishes for all values of chemical potential. The reason for this result is discussed.     

A statistical approach to quantum mechanics

A Monte Carlo method is used to evaluate the Euclidean version of Feynman's sum over particle histories. Following Feynman's treatment, individual paths are defined on a discrete (imaginary) time lattice with periodic boundary conditions. On each lattice site, a continuous position variable x_i specifies the spacial location of the particle. Using a modified Metropolis algorithm, the low-lying energy eigenvalues, |ψ₀(x)|², the propagator, and the effective potential for the anharmonic oscillator are computed, in good agreement with theory. For a deep double-well potential, instantons were found in our computer simulations appearing as multi-kink configurations on the lattice.     

Fisher information, the Hellmann–Feynman theorem, and the Jaynes reciprocity relations

We explore intriguing links connecting Hellmann–Feynman’s theorem to a thermodynamics information-optimizing principle based on Fisher’s information measure.     

Wigner Function for Klein--Gordon Landau Problem

First we calculate the Wigner phase-space distribution function for the Klein-Gordan Landau problem on a commmutative space. Then we study the modifications introduced by the coordinate-coordinate noncommuting and momentum-momentum noncommuting, namely, by using a generalized Bopp's shift method we construct the Wigner function for the Klein-Gordan Landau problem both on a noncommutative space (NCS) and a noncommutative phase space (NCPS).     

A hybrid method for the parallel computation of Green’s functions

Quantum transport models for nanodevices using the non-equilibrium Green’s function method require the repeated calculation of the block tridiagonal part of the Green’s and lesser Green’s function matrices. This problem is related to the calculation of the inverse of a sparse matrix. Because of the large number of times this calculation needs to be performed, this is computationally very expensive even on supercomputers. The classical approach is based on recurrence formulas which cannot be efficiently parallelized. This practically prevents the solution of large problems with hundreds of thousands of atoms. We propose new recurrences for a general class of sparse matrices to calculate Green’s and lesser Green’s function matrices which extend formulas derived by Takahashi and others. We show that these recurrences may lead to a dramatically reduced computational cost because they only require computing a small number of entries of the inverse matrix. Then, we propose a parallelization strategy for block tridiagonal matrices which involves a combination of Schur complement calculations and cyclic reduction. It achieves good scalability even on problems of modest size.