The two-antidot system in the ballistic regime

A tunable two-antidot device is studied in the cyclotron-trapping regime. Periodic quantum oscillations are found to be superimposed on the peaks reminiscent of those observed in antidot lattices. The results are compared to quantum and classical simulations and Feynman path integral analysis. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.     

A4-based tri-bimaximal mixing within inverse and linear seesaw schemes

We consider tri-bimaximal lepton mixing within low-scale seesaw schemes where light neutrino masses arise from TeV scale physics, potentially accessible at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Two examples are considered, based on the A₄$A_4$ flavor symmetry realized within the inverse or the linear seesaw mechanisms. Both are highly predictive so that in both the light neutrino sector effectively depends only on three mass parameters and one Majorana phase, with no CP violation in neutrino oscillations. We find that the linear seesaw leads to a lower bound for neutrinoless double beta decay while the inverse seesaw does not. The models also lead to potentially sizeable decay rates for lepton flavor violating processes, tightly related by the assumed flavor symmetry.     

Excitonic Rabi oscillations in a quantum dot: local field impact

The influence of local fields on the excitonic Rabi oscillations in an isolated, arbitrary shaped quantum dot (QD) has been theoretically investigated. QD interaction with both a classical electromagnetic field and quantum light has been considered. In the classical light, time harmonic and ultrashort pulse excitations are analyzed. The general formalism has been formulated for quantum light and applied to the case of a Fock qubit. Noticeable modification of the Rabi oscillation dynamics induced by the local fields is predicted to be observable in QDs exposed to both classical and quantum light. In particular, the bifurcation and anharmonism in the Rabi oscillations have been revealed under time harmonic excitation and a dependence of the Rabi oscillation period on the QD depolarization has been obtained.     

Finite temperature theory of metastable anharmonic potentials

The decay rate for a particle in a metastable cubic potential is investigated in the quantum regime by the Euclidean path integral method in semiclassical approximation. The imaginary time formalism allows one to monitor the system as a function of temperature. The family of classical paths, saddle points for the action, is derived in terms of Jacobian elliptic functions whose periodicity sets the energy-temperature correspondence. The period of the classical oscillations varies monotonically with the energy up to the sphaleron, pointing to a smooth crossover from the quantum to the activated regime. The softening of the quantum fluctuation spectrum is evaluated analytically by the theory of the functional determinants and computed at low T up to the crossover. In particular, the negative eigenvalue, causing an imaginary contribution to the partition function, is studied in detail by solving the Lamè equation which governs the fluctuation spectrum. For a heavvy particle mass, the decay rate shows a remarkable temperature dependence mainly ascribable to a low lying soft mode and, approaching the crossover, it increases by a factor five over the predictions of the zero temperature theory. Just beyond the peak value, the classical Arrhenius behavior takes over. A similar trend is found studying the quartic metastable potential but the lifetime of the latter is longer by a factor ten than in a cubic potential with same parameters. Some formal analogies with noise-induced transitions in classically activated metastable systems are discussed.     

Topological Chern—Simons vortices in the O (3) σ -model

Based on the phase-space path integral (functional integral) for a system with a regular or singular Lagrangian, the generalized Ward identities for phase space generating functional under the global transformation in phase space are derived respectively. The canonical Noether theorem at the quantum level is also established. It is pointed out that the connection between the symmetries and conservation laws in classical theories, in general,is no longer preserved in quantum theories. The advantage of our formulation is that we do not need to carry out the integration over the canonical momenta as usually performed. Applying the present formulation to Yang-Mills theory, the quantal BRS conserved quantity and Ward-Takahashi identity for BRS tranformation are derived; the Ward identities for gaugeghost proper vertices and new quantal conserved quantity are also found. In comparison of quantal conservation laws with those one deriving from configuration-space path integral using the Faddeev-Popov(F-P) trick is discussed. A precise study of path-integral quantisation for a nonlinear sigma model with Hopf and Chern-Simons (CS) terms is reexamined. It has been shown that the angular momentum at the quantum level is equal to classical (Noether ) one. Applying our formulation to non-Abelian CS theory, the quantal conserved angular momentum of this system is obtained which differs from classical one in that one needs to take into account the contribution of angular momenta of ghost fields.     

Closed path integrals and the quantum action

We suggest a closed form expression for the path integral of quantum transition amplitudes. We introduce a quantum action with parameters different from the classical action. We present numerical results for the harmonic oscillator with weak perturbation, the quartic potential, and the double well potential. The quantum action is relevant for quantum chaos and quantum instantons.     

Semiclassical theory of transport in antidot lattices

Motivated by a recent experiment by Weiss et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 4118 (1993)], we present a detailed study of quantum transport in large antidot arrays whose classical dynamics is chaotic. We calculate the longitudinal and Hall conductivities semiclassically starting from the Kubo formula. The leading contribution reproduces the classical conductivity. In addition, we find oscillatory quantum corrections to the classical conductivity which are given in terms of the periodic orbits of the system. These periodic-orbit contributions provide a consistent explanation of the quantum oscillations in the magnetoconductivity observed by Weiss et al. We find that the phase of the oscillations with Fermi energy and magnetic field is given by the classical action of the periodic orbit. The amplitude is determined by the stability and the velocity correlations of the orbit. The amplitude also decreases exponentially with temperature on the scale of the inverse orbit traversal time/T . The Zeeman splitting leads to beating of the amplitude with magnetic field. We also present an analogous semiclassical derivation of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations where the corresponding classical motion is integrable. We show that the quantum oscillations in antidot lattices and the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations are closely related. Observation of both effects requires that the elastic and inelastic scattering lengths be larger than the lengths of the relevant periodic orbits. The amplitude of the quantum oscillations in antidot lattices is of a higher power in Planck's constant and hence smaller than that of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations. In this sense, the quantum oscillations in the conductivity are a sensitive probe of chaos.This paper is dedicated to Prof. H. Wagner on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Electron self-trapping at quantum and classical critical points

Using Feynman path integral technique estimations of the ground state energy have been found for a conduction electron interacting with order parameter fluctuations near quantum critical points. In some cases only singular perturbation theory in the coupling constant emerges for the electron ground state energy. It is shown that an autolocalized state (quantum fluctuon) can be formed and its characteristics have been calculated depending on critical exponents for both weak and strong coupling regimes. The concept of fluctuon is considered also for the classical critical point (at finite temperatures) and the difference between quantum and classical cases has been investigated. It is shown that, whereas the quantum fluctuon energy is connected with a true boundary of the energy spectrum, for classical fluctuon it is just a saddle-point solution for the chemical potential in the exponential density of states fluctuation tail.     

Second-order temporal interference of two independent light beams at an asymmetrical beam splitter

The second-order temporal interference of classical and nonclassical light at an asymmetrical beam splitter is discussed based on two-photon interference in Feynman's path integral theory. The visibility of the second-order interference pattern is determined by the properties of the superposed light beams, the ratio between the intensities of these two light beams, and the reflectivity of the asymmetrical beam splitter. Some requirements about the asymmetrical beam splitter have to be satisfied in order to ensure that the visibility of the second-order interference pattern of nonclassical light beams exceeds the classical limit. The visibility of the second-order interference pattern of photons emitted by two independent single-photon sources is independent of the ratio between the intensities. These conclusions are important for the researches and applications in quantum optics and quantum information when an asymmetrical beam splitter is employed.     

Time-to-space conversion in quantum field theory of flavor mixing

We address the time-to-space conversion in quantum field theory of mixing. In the general theory of quantum field mixing (with an arbitrary number of mixed fields with either boson or fermion statistics) the mixing relations for flavor states are derived directly from the definition of mixing for quantum fields and the unitary inequivalence of the Fock space of energy- and flavor-eigenstates is found. The time dynamics of the interacting fields can be explicitly solved and the flavor time oscillation formulas can be derived in a general form. In this work, we analyze the conversion of these results to space-oscillations with a generalized method of wave-packets. Emphasizing the antiparticle content, we work entirely within the canonical formalism of creation and annihilation operators that allows us to include the effect due to the nontrivial flavor vacuum.     

Electronic States of Elliptical Quantum Rings Subjected to a Magnetic Field

We calculate the energy states and Aharonov--Bohm oscillations of an electron in elliptical quantum rings in the presence of a uniform magnetic field by using an exact numerical diagonalization. The calculated results show that the elliptical quantum rings are flatter, larger amplitudes and periods of the Aharonov--Bohm oscillations are observed. In addition, in the limits of a circular quantum ring, the results of our approach are in good agreement with those of earlier theories.     

Quantum size effects in the elastic scattering of light from small metal particles

A quantum mechanical calculation of the differential elastic scattering cross-section of light from a metal microparticle is presented. The scattering intensity is found to exhibit oscillations as a function of the frequency due to the discreteness of the electron energy levels. The magnitudes of the oscillations have a sensitive dependence on the size of the electron mean free path relative to the diameter of the particle.     

An information-theoretic link between spacetime symmetries and quantum linearity

A nonlinear generalisation of Schrodinger’s equation is obtained using information-theoretic arguments. The nonlinearities are controlled by an intrinsic length scale and involve derivatives to all orders thus making the equation mildly nonlocal. The nonlinear equation is homogeneous, separable, conserves probability, but is not invariant under spacetime symmetries. Spacetime symmetries are recovered when a dimensionless parameter is tuned to vanish, whereby linearity is simultaneously established and the length scale becomes hidden. It is thus suggested that if, in the search for a more basic foundation for Nature’s Laws, an inference principle is given precedence over symmetry requirements, then the symmetries of spacetime and the linearity of quantum theory might both be emergent properties that are intrinsically linked. Supporting arguments are provided for this point of view and some testable phenomenological consequences are highlighted. The generalised Klien-Gordon and Dirac equations are also studied, leading to the suggestion that nonlinear quantum dynamics with intrinsically broken spacetime symmetries might be relevant to understanding the problem of neutrino mass (lessness) and oscillations: among other observations, this approach hints at the existence of a hidden discrete family symmetry in the Standard Model of particle physics.     

Effects of quantum space time foam in the neutrino sector

We discuss violations of CPT and quantum mechanics due to interactions of neutrinos with space-time quantum foam. Neutrinoless double beta decay and oscillations of neutrinos from astrophysical sources (supernovae, active galactic nuclei) are analysed. It is found that the propagation distance is the crucial quantity entering any bounds on EHNS parameters. Thus, while the bounds from neutrinoless double beta decay are not significant, the data of the supernova 1987a imply a bound being several orders of magnitude more stringent than the ones known from the literature. Even more stringent limits may be obtained from the investigation of neutrino oscillations from active galactic nuclei sources, which have an impressive potential for the search of quantum foam interactions in the neutrino sector. Received: 5 June 2000 / Accepted: 12 July 2000     

Uniform semiclassical orbital calculations of heavy ion Coulomb excitation

A new semielassical approach, which can be derived from Feynman's path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, is applied to multiple Coulomb excitation for backward scattering angles. The basic features of this method are that the dynamics of the problem is treated completely classically (that is, one solves classical equations of motion) but the quantum mechanical superposition principle is retained by evaluating a phase along the classical trajectory and adding probability amplitudes for indistinguishable processes rather than probabilities themselves. One finds even a quantitative agreement with the conventional De Boer-Winther code. The limit of sudden collision (ξ = 0) for η → ∞ (η = Sommerfeld parameter) is evaluated analytically and is in very good agreement with results published for this case.     

Investigation of continuous-time quantum walk via spectral distribution associated with adjacency matrix

Using the spectral distribution associated with the adjacency matrix of graphs, we introduce a new method of calculation of amplitudes of continuous-time quantum walk on some rather important graphs, such as line, cycle graph C_n, complete graph K_n, graph G_n, finite path and some other finite and infinite graphs, where all are connected with orthogonal polynomials such as Hermite, Laguerre, Tchebichef, and other orthogonal polynomials. It is shown that using the spectral distribution, one can obtain the infinite time asymptotic behavior of amplitudes simply by using the method of stationary phase approximation (WKB approximation), where as an example, the method is applied to star, two-dimensional comb lattices, infinite Hermite and Laguerre graphs. Also by using the Gauss quadrature formula one can approximate the infinite graphs with finite ones and vice versa, in order to derive large time asymptotic behavior by WKB method. Likewise, using this method, some new graphs are introduced, where their amplitudes are proportional to the product of amplitudes of some elementary graphs, even though the graphs themselves are not the same as the Cartesian product of their elementary graphs. Finally, by calculating the mean end to end distance of some infinite graphs at large enough times, it is shown that continuous-time quantum walk at different infinite graphs belong to different universality classes which are also different from those of the corresponding classical ones.     

Causality, symmetries and quantum mechanics

It is argued that there is no evidence for causality as a metaphysical relation in quantum phenomena. The assumptions that there are no causal laws, but only probabilities for physical processes constrained by symmetries, leads naturally to quantum mechanics. In particular, an argument is made for why there are probability amplitudes that are complex numbers. This argument generalizes the Feynman path integral formulation of quantum mechanics to include all possible terms in the action that are allowed by the symmetries, but only the lowest order terms are observable at the presently accessible energy scales, which is consistent with observation. The notion of relational reality is introduced in order to give physical meaning to probabilities. This appears to give rise to a new interpretation of quantum mechanics.     

Geometric-symmetry consideration on magneto-conductance oscillations in purely ballistic quantum rings

We report an analysis of the magneto-conductance oscillations in two-dimensional mesoscopic ring structures with different geometric symmetry. In particular, we demonstrate that the h/2e magneto-conductance oscillations may be absent or present in purely ballistic quantum rings depending on their geometric symmetry. A detailed analysis of the results is carried out by expanding the transmission amplitudes with backscattering terms. The role of interchannel scattering, which is an essential element of multichannel ballistic transport, is stressed.     

Correlated quantum transport of density wave electrons

Recently observed Aharonov-Bohm quantum interference of the period h/2e in charge density wave rings strongly suggests that correlated density wave electron transport is a cooperative quantum phenomenon. The picture discussed here posits that quantum solitons nucleate and transport current above a Coulomb blockade threshold field. We propose a field-dependent tunneling matrix element and use the Schr?dinger equation, viewed as an emergent classical equation as in Feynman's treatment of Josephson tunneling, to compute the evolving macrostate amplitudes, finding excellent quantitative agreement with voltage oscillations and current-voltage characteristics in NbSe(3). A proposed phase diagram shows the conditions favoring soliton nucleation versus classical depinning.