Dilation of a non-quasifree dissipative evolution

A semigroup evolution for the 1/2-spin which admits a conservative dilation is known to be governed by a Bloch equation in a standard form. Here we construct a conservative dilation directly from the Bloch equation, thus yielding an example of a dilation scheme for an evolution which is not quasifree. Moreover, we show that this conservative evolution is never ergodic in the non-quasifree case.     

Constructing the davies process of resonance fluorescence with quantum stochastic calculus

The starting point is a given semigroup of completely positive maps on the 2×2 matrices. This semigroup describes the irreversible evolution of a decaying two-level atom. By using the integral-sum kernel approach to quantum stochastic calculus, the two-level atom is coupled to an environment, which in this case will be interpreted as the electromagnetic field. The irreversible time evolution of the two-level atom then stems from the reversible time evolution of the atom and the field together. Mathematically speaking, a Markov dilation of the semigroup has been constructed. The next step is to drive the atom by a laser and to count the photons emitted into the field by the decaying two-level atom. For every possible sequence of photon counts, a map is constructed that gives the time evolution of the two-level atom implied by that sequence. The family of maps obtained in this way forms a so-called Davies process. In his book, Davies describes the structure of these processes, which brings us into the field of quantum trajectories. Within the model presented in this paper, the jump operators are calculated and the resulting counting process is briefly described.     

Extended Weak Coupling Limit for Pauli-Fierz Operators

We consider the weak coupling limit for a quantum system consisting of a small subsystem and reservoirs. It is known rigorously since [10] that the Heisenberg evolution restricted to the small system converges in an appropriate sense to a Markovian semigroup. In the nineties, Accardi, Frigerio and Lu [1] initiated an investigation of the convergence of the unreduced unitary evolution to a singular unitary evolution generated by a Langevin-Schrödinger equation. We present a version of this convergence which is both simpler and stronger than the formulations which we know. Our main result says that in an appropriately understood weak coupling limit the interaction of the small system with environment can be expressed in terms of the so-called quantum white noise.     

Dilations of quantum dynamical semigroups with classical Brownian motion

We show that any quantum dynamical semigroup can be written with the help of the solution of a vector-valued classical stochastic differential equation. Moreover this equation leads to a natural construction of a unitary dilation in term of Wiener spaces.On leave of absence from Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Gdansk, PolandBevoegdverklaard navorser N.F.W.O., Belgium     

Energy diffusion in strongly driven quantum chaotic systems

The energy evolution of a quantum chaotic system under a perturbation that harmonically depends on time is studied in the case of a large perturbation in which the transition rate calculated from the Fermi golden rule exceeds the frequency of the perturbation. It is shown that the energy evolution retains its diffusive character, with a diffusion coefficient that is asymptotically proportional to the magnitude of the perturbation and to the square root of the density of states. The results are supported by numerical calculation. Energy absorption by the system and quantum-classical correlations are discussed. The text was submitted by author in English.     

Time-dependent formulation of the linear unitary transformation and the time evolution of general time-dependent quadratic Hamiltonian systems

A time-dependent closed-form formulation of the linear unitary transformation for harmonic-oscillator annihilation and creation operators is presented in the Schrödinger picture using the Lie algebraic approach. The time evolution of the quantum mechanical system described by a general time-dependent quadratic Hamiltonian is investigated by combining this formulation with the time evolution equation of the system. The analytic expressions of the evolution operator and propagator are found. The motion of a charged particle with variable mass in the time-dependent electric field is considered as an illustrative example of the formalism. The exact time evolution wave function starting from a Gaussian wave packet and the operator expectation values with respect to the complicated evolution wave function are obtained readily.     

Time asymmetric quantum theory and the ambiguity of the Z-boson mass and width

Relativistic Gamow vectors emerge naturally in a time asymmetric quantum theory as the covariant kets associated to the resonance pole in the second sheet of the analytically continued S-matrix. They are eigenkets of the self-adjoint mass operator with complex eigenvalue and have exponential time evolution with lifetime . If one requires that the resonance width (defined by the Breit-Wigner lineshape) and the resonance lifetime always and exactly fulfill the relation , then one is lead to the following parameterization of in terms of resonance mass and width : . Applying this result to the -boson implies that and $\Gamma_R \approx \Gamma_Z-1.2\mbox{MeV}$ are the mass and width of the {\it Z}-boson and not the particle data values or any other parameterization of the Z-boson lineshape. Furthermore, the transformation properties of these Gamow kets show that they furnish an irreducible representation of the causal Poincaré semigroup, defined as a semi-direct product of the homogeneous Lorentz group with the semigroup of space-time translations into the forward light cone. Much like Wigner's unitary irreducible representations of the Poincaré group which describe stable particles, these irreducible semigroup representations can be characterized by the spin-mass values . Received 8 June 2000 / Published online: 27 November 2000     

Dynamic localization in quantum dots: analytical theory

We analyze the response of a complex quantum-mechanical system (e.g., a quantum dot) to a time-dependent perturbation phi(t). Assuming the dot to be described by random-matrix theory for the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble, we find the quantum correction to the energy absorption rate as a function of the dephasing time t(phi). If phi(t) is a sum of d harmonics with incommensurate frequencies, the correction behaves similarly to that for the conductivity deltasigma(d)(t(phi)) in the d-dimensional Anderson model of the orthogonal symmetry class. For a generic periodic perturbation, the leading quantum correction is absent as in the systems of the unitary symmetry class, unless phi(-t+tau)=phi(t+tau) for some tau, which falls into the quasi-1D orthogonal universality class.     

Quench of non-Markovian coherence in the deep sub-Ohmic spin–boson model: A unitary equilibration scheme

The deep sub-Ohmic spin–boson model shows a longstanding non-Markovian coherence at low temperature. Motivating to quench this robust coherence, the thermal effect is unitarily incorporated into the time evolution of the model, which is calculated by the adaptive time-dependent density matrix renormalization group algorithm combined with the orthogonal polynomials theory. Via introducing a unitary heating operator to the bosonic bath, the bath is heated up so that a majority portion of the bosonic excited states is occupied. It is found in this situation the coherence of the spin is quickly quenched even in the coherent regime, in which the non-Markovian feature dominates. With this finding we come up with a novel way to implement the unitary equilibration, the essential term of the eigenstate-thermalization hypothesis, through a short-time evolution of the model.     

Random matrices as models for the statistics of quantum mechanics

Random matrices from the Gaussian unitary ensemble generate in a natural way unitary groups of evolution in finite-dimensional spaces. The statistical properties of this time evolution can be investigated by studying the time autocorrelation functions of dynamical variables. We prove general results on the decay properties of such autocorrelation functions in the limit of infinite-dimensional matrices. We discuss the relevance of random matrices as models for the dynamics of quantum systems that are chaotic in the classical limit.     

Moving system with speeded-up evolution

In classical (non-quantum) relativity theory, the course of a moving clock is dilated when compared to the course of a clock at rest (the Einstein dilation). Any unstable system may be regarded as a clock. The time evolution (e.g., the decay) of a uniformly moving physical system is considered using relativistic quantum theory. An example of a moving system is given whose evolution turns out to be speeded-up instead of dilated. A discussion of this paradoxical result is presented. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

Quantum speed limit for mixed states in a unitary system

Since the evolution of a mixed state in a unitary system is equivalent to the joint evolution of the eigenvectors contained in it, we could use the tool of instantaneous angular velocity for pure states to study the quantum speed limit (QSL) of a mixed state. We derive a lower bound for the evolution time of a mixed state to a target state in a unitary system, which automatically reduces to the quantum speed limit induced by the Fubini-Study metric for pure states. The computation of the QSL of a degenerate mixed state is more complicated than that of a non-degenerate mixed state, where we have to make a singular value decomposition (SVD) on the inner product between the two eigenvector matrices of the initial and target states. By combing these results, a lower bound for the evolution time of a general mixed state is presented. In order to compare the tightness among the lower bound proposed here and lower bounds reported in the references, two examples in a single-qubit system and in a single-qutrit system are studied analytically and numerically, respectively. All conclusions derived in this work are independent of the eigenvalues of the mixed state, which is in accord with the evolution properties of a quantum unitary system.     

“Time inversion” and mobility of many particle systems

The unitary operations which can be generated on many particle states in non-relativistic quantum mechanics are discussed. These operations depend on an arbitrary external field which is in the experimenter's control, whereas the pairwise potential of interaction between the particles is fixed. The various kinds of systems ofN identical particles interacting via the potentials are studied. For every system in question, the semigroup spanned by evolution transformations is proved to contain all the unitary operators in the Hilbert space of states. In particular, it is shown that the natural evolution operation can be reversed by a certain prescribed sequence of maneouvres involving only external fields.     

The Gamow vectors and the Schwinger effect

We introduce a ‘proper time’ formalism to study the instability of the vacuum in a uniform external electric field due to particle production. This formalism allows us to reduce a quantum field-theoretic problem to a quantum mechanical one in a higher dimension. The instability results from the inverted oscillator structure which appears in the Hamiltonian. We show that the ‘proper time’ unitary evolution splits into two semigroups. The semigroup associated with decaying Gamov vectors is related to the Feynman boundary conditions for the Green functions and the semigroup associated with growing Gamov vectors is related to the Dyson boundary conditions.     

Quantum reversibility: is there an echo?

We study the possibility to undo the quantum mechanical evolution in a time reversal experiment. The naive expectation, as reflected in the common terminology ("Loschmidt echo"), is that maximum compensation results if the reversed dynamics extends to the same time as the forward evolution. We challenge this belief and demonstrate that the time t(r) for maximum return probability is in general shorter. We find that t(r) depends on lambda=epsilon(evol)/epsilon(prep), being the ratio of the error in setting the parameters (fields) for the time-reversed evolution to the perturbation which is involved in the preparation process. Our results should be observable in spin-echo experiments where the dynamical irreversibility of quantum phases is measured.     

Decay of a thermofield-double state in chaotic quantum systems

Scrambling in interacting quantum systems out of equilibrium is particularly effective in the chaotic regime. Under time evolution, initially localized information is said to be scrambled as it spreads throughout the entire system. This spreading can be analyzed with the spectral form factor, which is defined in terms of the analytic continuation of the partition function. The latter is equivalent to the survival probability of a thermofield double state under unitary dynamics. Using random matrices from the Gaussian unitary ensemble (GUE) as Hamiltonians for the time evolution, we obtain exact analytical expressions at finite N for the survival probability. Numerical simulations of the survival probability with matrices taken from the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE) are also provided. The GOE is more suitable for our comparison with numerical results obtained with a disordered spin chain with local interactions. Common features between the random matrix and the realistic disordered model in the chaotic regime are identified. The differences that emerge as the spin model approaches a many-body localized phase are also discussed.     

Random matrix model for disordered conductors

We present a random matrix ensemble where real, positive semi-definite matrix elements, x, are log-normal distributed, exp[−log²(x)]. We show that the level density varies with energy, E, as 2/(1+E) for large E, in the unitary family, consistent with the expectation for disordered conductors. The two-level correlation function is studied for the unitary family and found to be largely of the universal form despite the fact that the level density has a non-compact support. The results are based on the method of orthogonal polynomials (the Stieltjes-Wigert polynomials here). An interesting random walk problem associated with the joint probability distribution of the ensuing ensemble is discussed and its connection with level dynamics is brought out. It is further proved that Dyson’s Coulomb gas analogy breaks down whenever the confining potential is given by a transcendental function for which there exist orthogonal polynomials.