Embedding of Analytic Quasi-Periodic Cocycles into Analytic Quasi-Periodic Linear Systems and its Applications

In this paper, we prove that any analytic quasi-periodic cocycle close to constant is the Poincaré map of an analytic quasi-periodic linear system close to constant, which bridges both methods and results in quasi-periodic linear systems and cocycles. We also show that the almost reducibility of an analytic quasi-periodic linear system is equivalent to the almost reducibility of its corresponding Poincaré cocycle. By the local embedding theorem and the equivalence, we transfer the recent local almost reducibility results of quasi-periodic linear systems (Hou and You, in Invent Math 190:209–260, 2012) to quasi-periodic cocycles, and the global reducibility results of quasi-periodic cocycles (Avila, in Almost reducibility and absolute continuity, 2010; Avila et al., in Geom Funct Anal 21:1001–1019, 2011) to quasi-periodic linear systems. Finally, we give a positive answer to a question of Avila et al. (Geom Funct Anal 21:1001–1019, 2011) and use it to study point spectrum of long-range quasi-periodic operator with Liouvillean frequency. The embedding also holds for some nonlinear systems.     

Entropic Fluctuations of Quantum Dynamical Semigroups

We study a class of finite dimensional quantum dynamical semigroups $\{\mathrm {e}^{t\mathcal{L}}\}_{t\geq0}$ whose generators $\mathcal{L}$ are sums of Lindbladians satisfying the detailed balance condition. Such semigroups arise in the weak coupling (van Hove) limit of Hamiltonian dynamical systems describing open quantum systems out of equilibrium. We prove a general entropic fluctuation theorem for this class of semigroups by relating the cumulant generating function of entropy transport to the spectrum of a family of deformations of the generator ${\mathcal{L}}$ . We show that, besides the celebrated Evans-Searles symmetry, this cumulant generating function also satisfies the translation symmetry recently discovered by Andrieux et al., and that in the linear regime near equilibrium these two symmetries yield Kubo’s and Onsager’s linear response relations.     

How to Add a Boundary Condition

Given a conformal QFT local net of von Neumann algebras ${\mathcal {B}_2}$ on the two-dimensional Minkowski spacetime with irreducible subnet ${\mathcal {A} \otimes \mathcal {A}}$ , where ${\mathcal {A}}$ is a completely rational net on the left/right light-ray, we show how to consistently add a boundary to ${\mathcal {B}_2}$ : we provide a procedure to construct a Boundary CFT net ${\mathcal {B}}$ of von Neumann algebras on the half-plane x >  0, associated with ${\mathcal {A}}$ , and locally isomorphic to ${\mathcal {B}_2}$ . All such locally isomorphic Boundary CFT nets arise in this way. There are only finitely many locally isomorphic Boundary CFT nets and we get them all together. In essence, we show how to directly redefine the C* representation of the restriction of ${\mathcal {B}_2}$ to the half-plane by means of subfactors and local conformal nets of von Neumann algebras on S ¹.     

Recurrence for Discrete Time Unitary Evolutions

We consider quantum dynamical systems specified by a unitary operator U and an initial state vector ${\phi}$ . In each step the unitary is followed by a projective measurement checking whether the system has returned to the initial state. We call the system recurrent if this eventually happens with probability one. We show that recurrence is equivalent to the absence of an absolutely continuous part from the spectral measure of U with respect to ${\phi}$ . We also show that in the recurrent case the expected first return time is an integer or infinite, for which we give a topological interpretation. A key role in our theory is played by the first arrival amplitudes, which turn out to be the (complex conjugated) Taylor coefficients of the Schur function of the spectral measure. On the one hand, this provides a direct dynamical interpretation of these coefficients; on the other hand it links our definition of first return times to a large body of mathematical literature.     

How to Produce S-Tense Operators on Lattice Effect Algebras

Tense operators in effect algebras play a key role for the representation of the dynamics of formally described physical systems. For this, it is important to know how to construct them on a given effect algebra \( E\) and how to compute all possible pairs of tense operators on \( E\) . However, we firstly need to derive a time frame which enables these constructions and computations. Hence, we usually apply a suitable set of states of the effect algebra \( E\) in question. To approximate physical reality in quantum mechanics, we use only the so-called Jauch–Piron states on \( E\) in our paper. To realize our constructions, we are restricted on lattice effect algebras only.     

Batalin-Vilkovisky Formalism in Perturbative Algebraic Quantum Field Theory

On the basis of a thorough discussion of the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism for classical field theory presented in our previous publication, we construct in this paper the Batalin-Vilkovisky complex in perturbatively renormalized quantum field theory. The crucial technical ingredient is an extended notion of the renormalized time-ordered product as a binary product equivalent to the pointwise product of classical field theory. Originally, in causal perturbation theory, the time-ordered product is understood merely as a sequence of multilinear maps on the space of local functionals. Our extended notion of the renormalized time-ordered product (denoted by ${\cdot_{{}^{\mathcal{T}_{\rm r}}}}$ ) is consistent with the old one and we found a subspace of the quantum algebra which is closed with respect to ${\cdot_{{}^{\mathcal{T}_{\rm r}}}}$ . On this space the renormalized Batalin-Vilkovisky algebra is then the classical algebra but written in terms of the time-ordered product, together with an operator which replaces the ill defined graded Laplacian of the unrenormalized theory. We identify it with the anomaly term of the anomalous Master Ward Identity of Brennecke and Dütsch. Contrary to other approaches we do not refer to the path integral formalism and do not need to use regularizations in intermediate steps.     

Entanglement of Bipartite Quantum Systems Driven by Repeated Interactions

We consider a non-interacting bipartite quantum system $\mathcal H_S^A\otimes \mathcal H_S^B$ undergoing repeated quantum interactions with an environment modeled by a chain of independent quantum systems interacting one after the other with the bipartite system. The interactions are made so that the pieces of environment interact first with $\mathcal H_S^A$ and then with $\mathcal H_S^B$ . Even though the bipartite systems are not interacting, the interactions with the environment create an entanglement. We show that, in the limit of short interaction times, the environment creates an effective interaction Hamiltonian between the two systems. This interaction Hamiltonian is explicitly computed and we show that it keeps track of the order of the successive interactions with $\mathcal H_S^A$ and $\mathcal H_S^B$ . Particular physical models are studied, where the evolution of the entanglement can be explicitly computed. We also show the property of return of equilibrium and thermalization for a family of examples.     

Relating the Quantum Mechanics of Discrete Systems to Standard Canonical Quantum Mechanics

Standard canonical quantum mechanics makes much use of operators whose spectra cover the set of real numbers, such as the coordinates of space, or the values of the momenta. Discrete quantum mechanics uses only strictly discrete operators. We show how one can transform systems with pairs of integer-valued, commuting operators $P_i$ and $Q_i$ , to systems with real-valued canonical coordinates $q_i$ and their associated momentum operators $p_i$ . The discrete system could be entirely deterministic while the corresponding (p, q) system could still be typically quantum mechanical.     

Branes as solutions of gauge theories in gravitational field

In this paper we study the behavior of the jet quenching parameter in a background metric with hyperscaling violation at finite temperature. The background metric is covariant under a generalized Lifshitz scaling symmetry with the dynamical exponent \(z\) and hyperscaling exponent \(\theta \) . We have evaluated the jet quenching parameter for a certain range of these parameters which are consistent with the Gubser bound conditions in terms of \(T\) , \(z\) , and \(\theta \) . The results are compared with those of experimental data as well as conformal and the non-conformal cases. Finally, we add a constant electric field to the background and find its effect on the jet quenching parameter.     

Noncommutative Geometry of the Moyal Plane: Translation Isometries, Connes’ Distance on Coherent States, Pythagoras Equality

We study the metric aspect of the Moyal plane from Connes’ noncommutative geometry point of view. First, we compute Connes’ spectral distance associated with the natural isometric action of ${\mathbb{R}^2}$ R 2 on the algebra of the Moyal plane ${\mathcal{A}}$ A . We show that the distance between any state of ${\mathcal{A}}$ A and any of its translated states is precisely the amplitude of the translation. As a consequence, we obtain the spectral distance between coherent states of the quantum harmonic oscillator as the Euclidean distance on the plane. We investigate the classical limit, showing that the set of coherent states equipped with Connes’ spectral distance tends towards the Euclidean plane as the parameter of deformation goes to zero. The extension of these results to the action of the symplectic group is also discussed, with particular emphasis on the orbits of coherent states under rotations. Second, we compute the spectral distance in the double Moyal plane, intended as the product of (the minimal unitization of) ${\mathcal{A}}$ A by ${\mathbb{C}^2}$ C 2 . We show that on the set of states obtained by translation of an arbitrary state of ${\mathcal{A}}$ A , this distance is given by the Pythagoras theorem. On the way, we prove some Pythagoras inequalities for the product of arbitrary unital and non-degenerate spectral triples. Applied to the Doplicher- Fredenhagen-Roberts model of quantum spacetime [DFR], these two theorems show that Connes’ spectral distance and the DFR quantum length coincide on the set of states of optimal localization.     

Quantum billiards in multidimensional models with branes

A gravitational $D$ -dimensional model with $l$ scalar fields and several forms is considered. When a cosmological-type diagonal metric is chosen, an electromagnetic composite brane ansatz is adopted and certain restrictions on the branes are imposed; the conformally covariant Wheeler–DeWitt (WDW) equation for the model is studied. Under certain restrictions asymptotic solutions to WDW equation are found in the limit of the formation of the billiard walls which reduce the problem to the so-called quantum billiard on the $(D+ l -2)$ -dimensional Lobachevsky space. Two examples of quantum billiards are considered. The first one deals with $9$ -dimensional quantum billiard for $D = 11$ model with $330$ four-forms which mimic space-like $M2$ - and $M5$ -branes of $D=11$ supergravity. The second one deals with the $9$ -dimensional quantum billiard for $D =10$ gravitational model with one scalar field, $210$ four-forms and $120$ three-forms which mimic space-like $D2$ -, $D4$ -, $FS1$ - and $NS5$ -branes in $D = 10$ $II A$ supergravity. It is shown that in both examples wave functions vanish in the limit of the formation of the billiard walls (i.e. we get a quantum resolution of the singularity for $11D$ model) but magnetic branes could not be neglected in calculations of quantum asymptotic solutions while they are irrelevant for classical oscillating behavior when all $120$ electric branes are present.     

Courant–Dorfman Algebras and their Cohomology

We introduce a new type of algebra, the Courant–Dorfman algebra. These are to Courant algebroids what Lie–Rinehart algebras are to Lie algebroids, or Poisson algebras to Poisson manifolds. We work with arbitrary rings and modules, without any regularity, finiteness or non-degeneracy assumptions. To each Courant–Dorfman algebra ${(\mathcal{R}, \mathcal{E})}$ we associate a differential graded algebra ${\mathcal{C}(\mathcal{E}, \mathcal{R})}$ in a functorial way by means of explicit formulas. We describe two canonical filtrations on ${\mathcal{C}(\mathcal{E}, \mathcal{R})}$ , and derive an analogue of the Cartan relations for derivations of ${\mathcal{C}(\mathcal{E}, \mathcal{R})}$ ; we classify central extensions of ${\mathcal{E}}$ in terms of ${H^2(\mathcal{E}, \mathcal{R})}$ and study the canonical cocycle ${\Theta \in \mathcal{C}^3(\mathcal{E}, \mathcal{R})}$ whose class ${[\Theta]}$ obstructs re-scalings of the Courant–Dorfman structure. In the nondegenerate case, we also explicitly describe the Poisson bracket on ${\mathcal{C}(\mathcal{E}, \mathcal{R})}$ ; for Courant–Dorfman algebras associated to Courant algebroids over finite-dimensional smooth manifolds, we prove that the Poisson dg algebra ${\mathcal{C}(\mathcal{E}, \mathcal{R})}$ is isomorphic to the one constructed in Roytenberg (On the structure of graded symplectic supermanifolds and Courant algebroids. American Mathematical Society, Providence, 2002) using graded manifolds.     

Some Properties of Generalized Quantum Operations

Let $\mathcal{B}(\mathcal{H})$ be the set of all bounded linear operators on the separable Hilbert space  $\mathcal{H}$ . A (generalized) quantum operation is a bounded linear operator defined on  $\mathcal{B}(\mathcal{H})$ , which has the form $\varPhi_{\mathcal{A}}(X)=\sum_{i=1}^{\infty}A_{i}XA_{i}^{*}$ , where $A_{i}\in\mathcal{B}(\mathcal{H})$ (i=1,2,…) satisfy $\sum_{i=1}^{\infty}A_{i}A_{i}^{*}\leq \nobreak I$ in the strong operator topology. In this paper, we establish the relationship between the (generalized) quantum operation $\varPhi_{\mathcal{A}}$ and its dual $\varPhi_{\mathcal {A}}^{\dag}$ with respect to the set of fixed points and the noiseless subspace. In particular, we also partially characterize the extreme points of the set of all (generalized) quantum operations and give some equivalent conditions for the correctable quantum channel.     

Semiclassical Approximations for Hamiltonians with Operator-Valued Symbols

We consider the semiclassical limit of quantum systems with a Hamiltonian given by the Weyl quantization of an operator valued symbol. Systems composed of slow and fast degrees of freedom are of this form. Typically a small dimensionless parameter ${\varepsilon \ll 1}$ controls the separation of time scales and the limit ${\varepsilon\to 0}$ corresponds to an adiabatic limit, in which the slow and fast degrees of freedom decouple. At the same time ${\varepsilon\to 0}$ is the semiclassical limit for the slow degrees of freedom. In this paper we show that the ${\varepsilon}$ -dependent classical flow for the slow degrees of freedom first discovered by Littlejohn and Flynn (Phys Rev A (3) 44(8):5239–5256, 1991), coming from an ${\varepsilon}$ -dependent classical Hamilton function and an ${\varepsilon}$ -dependent symplectic form, has a concrete mathematical and physical meaning: Based on this flow we prove a formula for equilibrium expectations, an Egorov theorem and transport of Wigner functions, thereby approximating properties of the quantum system up to errors of order ${\varepsilon^2}$ . In the context of Bloch electrons formal use of this classical system has triggered considerable progress in solid state physics (Xiao et al. in Rev Mod Phys 82(3):1959–2007, 2010). Hence we discuss in some detail the application of the general results to the Hofstadter model, which describes a two-dimensional gas of non-interacting electrons in a constant magnetic field in the tight-binding approximation.     

Simulation of resonant tunneling devices: origin of the I–V multi-peak behavior

Multi-peak behavior of the $I$ – $V$ curves of an AlAs/GaAs/AlAs double-barrier resonant tunneling diode combined with a layer of InAs quantum dots (QDs) is simulated. Our simulation results show that the coupling between the energy level in the emitter quantum well (quantum dot) layer and that in the central quantum well is the key point in understanding the origin of the $I$ – $V$ multi-peak behavior. The embedded designed QD layer at the emitter spacer can enhance this effect. The effects of device temperature on the $I$ – $V$ characteristics are also obtained. Our results provide the physical basis for understanding and utilizing the multi-peak behavior of $I$ – $V$ curves in designing resonant tunneling devices.     

Spectral Properties of Quantum Walks on Rooted Binary Trees

We define coined quantum walks on the infinite rooted binary tree given by unitary operators $U(C)$ on an associated infinite dimensional Hilbert space, depending on a unitary coin matrix $C\in U(3)$ , and study their spectral properties. For circulant unitary coin matrices $C$ , we derive an equation for the Carathéodory function associated to the spectral measure of a cyclic vector for $U(C)$ . This allows us to show that for all circulant unitary coin matrices, the spectrum of the quantum walk has no singular continuous component. Furthermore, for coin matrices $C$ which are orthogonal circulant matrices, we show that the spectrum of the Quantum Walk is absolutely continuous, except for four coin matrices for which the spectrum of $U(C)$ is pure point.     

The Weil Algebra of a Hopf Algebra I: A Noncommutative Framework

We generalize the notion, introduced by Henri Cartan, of an operation of a Lie algebra ${\mathfrak{g}}$ in a graded differential algebra Ω. We define the notion of an operation of a Hopf algebra ${\mathcal{H}}$ in a graded differential algebra Ω which is referred to as a ${\mathcal{H}}$ -operation. We then generalize for such an operation the notion of algebraic connection. Finally we discuss the corresponding noncommutative version of the Weil algebra: The Weil algebra ${W(\mathcal{H})}$ of the Hopf algebra ${\mathcal{H}}$ is the universal initial object of the category of ${\mathcal{H}}$ -operations with connections.     

Suppression of Decoherence by Periodic Forcing

We consider a finite-dimensional quantum system coupled to a thermal reservoir and subject to a time-periodic, energy conserving forcing. We show that, if a certain dynamical decoupling condition is fulfilled, then the periodic forcing counteracts the decoherence induced by the reservoir: for small system–reservoir coupling $\lambda $ and small forcing period $T$ , the system dynamics is approximated by an energy conserving and non-dissipative dynamics, which preserves coherences. For times up to order $(\lambda T)^{-1}$ , the difference between the true and approximated dynamics is of size $\lambda +T$ . Our approach is rigorous and combines Floquet and spectral deformation theory. We illustrate our results on the spin-fermion model and recover previously known, heuristically obtained results.