Quantum Brownian motion in a one-dimensional disordered system

We study the diffusion of a quantum Brownian particle in a one-dimensional periodic potential with substitutional disorder. The particle is coupled to a dissipative environment, which induces a frictional force proportional to the velocity. The dynamics for arbitrary temperature is studied by using Feynman's influence-functional theory. We calculate the mobility to lowest order in the disorder and strength of the periodic potential. It is shown that for weak dissipation the linear mobility, which vanishes atT=0 due to localization effects, may exhibit a maximum and a subsequent minimum with increasing temperature. The relation to the diffusion of heavy particles in metals or doped semiconductors is briefly discussed.     

Quantum transport in dynamically disordered continuum tight binding systems

We consider the continuum limit of three distinct models describing tightly bound electron systems in one dimension. The first model is the usual tight binding hamiltonian for monatomic lattices with nearest-neighbour hopping between sites. The second model describes a two-subband tight binding system involving two different atoms per unit cell. Finally, the third model represents a monatomic system with two energy levels per atomic site and different nearest-neighbour hopping parameters for hopping between equivalent and non-equivalent levels. The continuum limits of these models result in field-theoretic hamiltonians showing similarities with the Dirac hamiltonian. Assuming the different types of site energies to be dynamically disordered with gaussian whitenoise spectra, we calculate exactly the quantum mechanical mean square displacement <x ²(t)>. Due to the use of Novikov's theorem for the evaluation of configuration averages our analysis for the two-band models is restricted to the degenerate case, where the average positions of the two types of atomic levels coincide. Fort we find coherent motion, <x ²(t)>t ², for the one-band model and disorder induced diffusive contributions for the two-band models. However, for the two-level atomic model the diffusive term is dominated by at ²-term describing coherent hopping between equivalent levels. These findings are discussed in relation to previous results for both discrete and continuum models.     

Quantum and classical correlations in quantum Brownian motion

We investigate the entanglement properties of the joint state of a distinguished quantum system and its environment in the quantum Brownian motion model. This model is a frequent starting point for investigations of environment-induced superselection. Using recent methods from quantum information theory, we show that there exists a large class of initial states for which no entanglement will be created at all times between the system of salient interest and the environment. If the distinguished system has been initially prepared in a pure Gaussian state, then entanglement is created immediately, regardless of the temperature of the environment and the nonvanishing coupling.     

Brownian motion in gravitationally interacting systems

We derive a model that describes the dynamics of a Brownian particle, such as a massive black hole, in a stellar system dominated by gravitational forces, and examine whether it achieves a state of equipartition of kinetic energy with the stars. This problem has been considered before only for stellar systems with an isothermal Maxwellian distribution of velocities; here we study other examples and confirm our calculations with N-body simulations. We show that in certain cases the black hole's steady state kinetic energy can be very far from equipartition.     

Quantum Brownian motion and the second law of thermodynamics

We consider a single harmonic oscillator coupled to a bath at zero temperature. As is well-known, the oscillator then has a higher average energy than that given by its ground state. Here we show analytically that for a damping model with arbitrarily discrete distribution of bath modes and damping models with continuous distributions of bath modes with cut-off frequencies, this excess energy is less than the work needed to couple the system to the bath, therefore, the quantum second law is not violated. On the other hand, the second law may be violated for bath modes without cut-off frequencies, which are, however, physically unrealistic models. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Model for Brownian motion in soft-jammed systems

Brownian motion in soft-jammed systems (pastes) is directly described by taking into account the specific mechanical characteristics of the material surrounding the moving object. In particular we obtain explicit forms for the fluctuation-dissipation equation and the specific characteristics of diffusion through a soft-jammed system.     

Stochastic motion of a charged particle in a magnetic field: II Quantum Brownian treatment

We study the quantum Brownian motion of a charged particle in the presence of a magnetic field. From the explicit solution of a quantum Langevin equation we calculate quantities such as the velocity correlation function and the mean-squared displacement. Our calculated expressions contain as special cases the motion of aclassical particle in a magnetic field and that of afree (but quantum) particle, in a dissipative environment.     

Theoretical predictions of diffusion from Brownian motion in superstrong polymers

This paper presents a summary of unique highly nonlinear static and dynamic theories for chain molecules (actually, for almost any kind of organic molecule), including the first superstrong polymers. These theories have been used to predict and explain (1) the physical self-assembly (self-ordering) of specific kinds of molecules into liquid crystalline (LC) phases (i.e., partially ordered phases) and (2) the diffusion of these molecules in various LC phases and the isotropic (I) liquid phase.By acceptance of this article, the publisher recognizes that the U. S. Government retains a nonexclusive, royality-free license to publish or reproduce the published form of this contribution, or to allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.     

Quantum chaos, thermalization and dissipation in nuclear systems

Nuclei have complex energy-level sequence with statistical properties in agreement with canonical random matrix theory. This agreement appears when the one-particle one-hole states are mixed completely with two-particle two-hole states. In the transition, there is a new universality which we present here, bringing about a relation between dynamics and statistics. We summarize also the role of chaos in thermalization and dissipation in isolated systems like nuclei. The methods used to bring forth this understanding emerge from random matrix theory, semiclassical physics, and the theory of dynamical systems.     

The dynamics of disordered systems and the motion of vortices in disordered type-II superconductors

We develop a field theoretical method which permits us to study the dynamics of interacting particles in disordered systems. In particular, making use of a Hartree-type approximation, we obtain a self-consistent system of equations for disorder averaged quantities. The method is first applied to a single particle on a rough surface. Then, we calculate the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of a type-II superconductor in the flux flow regime. Finally, the structure of the steps is discussed which arise in the I-V-characteristics when a small ac field is superimposed on the constant voltage. These may serve as a probe for incipient melting of the vortex lattice.     

Quantum simulation of disordered systems with cold atoms

This paper reviews the physics of quantum disorder in relation with a series of experiments using laser-cooled atoms exposed to “kicks” of a standing wave, realizing a paradigmatic model of quantum chaos, the kicked rotor. This dynamical system can be mapped onto a tight-binding Hamiltonian with pseudo-disorder, formally equivalent to the Anderson model of quantum disorder, with quantum chaos playing the role of disorder. This provides a very good quantum simulator for the Anderson physics.     

Absence of wave packet diffusion in disordered nonlinear systems

We study the spreading of an initially localized wave packet in two nonlinear chains (discrete nonlinear Schr?dinger and quartic Klein-Gordon) with disorder. Previous studies suggest that there are many initial conditions such that the second moment of the norm and energy density distributions diverges with time. We find that the participation number of a wave packet does not diverge simultaneously. We prove this result analytically for norm-conserving models and strong enough nonlinearity. After long times we find a distribution of nondecaying yet interacting normal modes. The Fourier spectrum shows quasiperiodic dynamics. Assuming this result holds for any initially localized wave packet, we rule out the possibility of slow energy diffusion. The dynamical state could approach a quasiperiodic solution (Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser torus) in the long time limit.     

Quantum diffusion in semi-infinite periodic and quasiperiodic systems

This paper studies quantum diffusion in semi-infinite one-dimensional periodic lattice and quasiperiodic Fibonacci lattice. It finds that the quantum diffusion in the semi-infinite periodic lattice shows the same properties as that for the infinite periodic lattice. Different behaviour is found for the semi-infinite Fibonacci lattice. In this case, there are still C（t） - t^-δ and d（t） - t^β. However, it finds that 0 〈δ 〈 1 for smaller time, and δ = 0 for larger time due to the influence of surface localized states. Moreover, β for the semi-infinite Fibonacci lattice is much smaller than that for the infinite Fibonacci lattice. Effects of disorder on the quantum diffusion are also discussed.