Entanglement, phase correlation and dephasing of two-qubit states

The relation between entanglement and phase correlation of two-qubit states is studied. Decoherence of entanglement and phase correlation caused by correlated classical noises is also investigated. It is found that the decay of the phase correlation is quite different from that of the entanglement when the finite-time disentanglement occurs.     

Wave function multifractality and dephasing at metal–insulator and quantum Hall transitions

We analyze the critical behavior of the dephasing rate induced by short-range electron–electron interaction near an Anderson transition of metal–insulator or quantum Hall type. The corresponding exponent characterizes the scaling of the transition width with temperature. Assuming no spin degeneracy, the critical behavior can be studied by performing the scaling analysis in the vicinity of the non-interacting fixed point, since the latter is stable with respect to the interaction. We combine an analytical treatment (that includes the identification of operators responsible for dephasing in the formalism of the non-linear sigma-model and the corresponding renormalization-group analysis in 2 + ? dimensions) with numerical simulations on the Chalker–Coddington network model of the quantum Hall transition. Finally, we discuss the current understanding of the Coulomb interaction case and the available experimental data.     

Disentanglement of 3-qubit states with stochastic dephasing

The effect of stochastic dephasing on the entanglement of 3-qubit states is analyzed. We find that the extent to which the entanglement vanishes depends not only on the strength of the stochastic dephasing, but also on the structure of states of concern under decoherence induced by the stochastic dephasing. The linear entropy used to measure coherence loss is evaluated.     

Generalization of uncertainty relation for quantum and stochastic systems

The generalized uncertainty relation applicable to quantum and stochastic systems is derived within the stochastic variational method. This relation not only reproduces the well-known inequality in quantum mechanics but also is applicable to the Gross–Pitaevskii equation and the Navier–Stokes–Fourier equation, showing that the finite minimum uncertainty between the position and the momentum is not an inherent property of quantum mechanics but a common feature of stochastic systems. We further discuss the possible implication of the present study in discussing the application of the hydrodynamic picture to microscopic systems, like relativistic heavy-ion collisions.     

System-reservoir interaction with stochastic coupling parameters

We consider the problem of a system coupled to an ensemble of independent harmonic oscillators acting as a reservoir. We use an extension of the functional derivative technique to analyze some of the effects of adding stochastic terms to the system-reservoir coupling parameters. Two approaches (quantum master equation and Langevin equation) are considered and their ranges of validity and differences are examined.     

The transmission of radiation through a spatially stochastic medium

The transport of radiation through a medium which is spatially random is studied using diffusion theory and the method of smoothing. Equations are established for the average flux and current in the medium, together with the variance of these quantities. The theory is applied to a plane slab one side of which is irradiated by a uniform source of radiation. The reflection and transmission factors are calculated and a measure of their fluctuations is obtained. For more generality, the boundary conditions allow internal reflection of the radiation using the Fresnel coefficient, which is particularly useful for applications to optical tomography where we believe this problem to have some relevance. The results are illustrated numerically using stochastic models for weak and strong clumping and applied to transmission through adult brain tissue. Stochastic effects are seen to be significant.     

Exact time evolution and second-order quantum master equations for two interacting qubits

Time evolution of two interacting qubits under the influence of thermal reservoirs is considered. When there is only one excitation in the whole system, an exact reduced dynamics can be obtained. The result is compared with those obtained by the time-convolutionless and time-convolution quantum master equations in the second order approximation.     

Large deviations for the stochastic derivative Ginzburg-Landau equation with multiplicative noise

This paper first proves the existence of a unique mild solution to the stochastic derivative Ginzburg-Landau equation. The fixed point theorem for the corresponding truncated equation is used as the main tool. Since we restrict our study to the one-dimensional case, it is not necessary to introduce another Banach space and thus the estimates of the stochastic convolutions in the Banach space are avoided. Secondly, we also consider large deviations for the stochastic derivative Ginzburg-Landau equation perturbed by a small noise. Since the underlying space considered is Polish, using the weak convergence approach, we establish a large deviations principle by proving a Laplace principle.     

On the validity of stochastic rate equations in finite systems with finite-strength interactions

Starting with the Hamiltonian for a linear harmonic chain of 2N particles of massm and one of massM, we have carried out numerical calculations for the momentum autocorrelation function of the mass defect particle for chains with finite numberN of mass points and for nonzero values of the mass ratio=m/M. These results have been compared with the well-known exponential relaxation of the momentum autocorrelation function which is found to be the rigorous result when passing to the thermodynamic and weak-coupling limit. In these limits, the dynamics of the mass defect particle is exactly described by a Fokker-Planck equation, i.e., a stochastic equation of motion. We have shown that, to an excellent approximation, an exponential relaxation of the momentum autocorrelation function is obtained for mass ratios as high as=0.1 and for chains with only 50 particles. Thus, for the harmonic chain considered here, the stochastic equations of motion can be applied to a very good approximation far outside the usually imposed thermodynamic and weak-coupling limits.Supported in part by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Defense as monitored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research under Contract N00014-69-A-0200-6018 and by the National Science Foundation under Grant GP28257X.     

Etched glass surfaces,atomic force microscopy and stochastic analysis

The effect of etching time scale of glass surface on its statistical properties has been studied using atomic force microscopy technique. We have characterized the complexity of the height fluctuation of an etched surface by the stochastic parameters such as intermittency exponents, roughness, roughness exponents, drift and diffusion coefficients and found their widths in terms of the etching time.     

Reduced dynamics and the master equation of open quantum systems

An exact reduced density operator of a quantum system interacting with a bosonic thermal reservoir is derived by means of the simple algebraic method. The necessary and sufficient condition is found that the time-convolutionless master equation becomes exact up to the second order with respect to the system-reservoir interaction. The result is examined by means of the boson-detector model. The reduced dynamics of a quantum system interacting with a classical reservoir is also discussed.     

The stochastic Boltzmann equation and hydrodynamic fluctuations

Based on the assumption of a kinetic equation in space, a stochastic differential equation of the one-particle distribution is derived without the use of the linear approximation. It is just the Boltzmann equation with a Langevin-fluctuating force term. The result is the general form of the linearized Boltzmann equation with fluctuations found by Bixon and Zwanzig and by Fox and Uhlenbeck. It reduces to the general Landau-Lifshitz equations of fluid dynamics in the presence of fluctuations in a similar hydrodynamic approximation to that used by Chapman and Enskog with respect to the Boltzmann equation.This work received financial support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.     

Gray radiation transport in multi-dimensional stochastic binary media with material temperature coupling

Models for radiation transport through stochastic binary media are tested in two and three dimensions. Theoretical models for stochastic media transport usually assume Markovian processes and exponential chord length statistics that are not fully realizable in multi-dimensions. Therefore, the previous validation studies done using one-dimensional (1D) transport are not necessarily applicable to multi-dimensions. The work presented here analyzes pure radiation transport and radiation when it is coupled to material energy balance. The sensitivity to chord length statistics is found to be different for these two cases. The assumptions made to linearize the transport equation are discussed and results for both linear and nonlinear transport are shown. For the coupled radiation and material problem in 2D and 3D, the mean radiation field differs significantly from previous analyses done in 1D. The differences between 1D and multi-dimensions are discussed. Modeling of the mean radiation field in the parameter range explored can be achieved with a simple formula for the mean opacity when the opacities are constant in space and time. Temperature-dependent opacities in stochastic media require different formulas for the effective opacity.     

Exactly solvable diffusion models in the framework of the extended supersymmetric quantum mechanics

This work is aimed at demonstrating the possibility to construct new exactly-solvable stochastic systems by use of the extended supersymmetric quantum mechanics (N=4SUSY QM) formalism. A feature of the proposed approach consists in the fact that obtained new potentials, which enter the Langevin equation, and so probability densities have a parametric freedom. The latter allows one to change the form of potentials without changing the temporal behavior of the probability densities.     

On the stochastic dynamics of Ising models

With the help of recent results in the mathematical theory of master equations, we present a rigorous derivation of the stochastic Glauber dynamics of Ising models from Hamiltonian quantum mechanics. A thermal bath is explicitly constructed and, as an illustration, the dynamics of the Ising-Weiss model is analyzed in the thermodynamic limit. We thus obtain an example of a nonequilibrium statistical mechanical system for which a link without mathematical gap can be established from microscopic quantum mechanics to a macroscopic irreversible thermodynamic process.     

Escape process and stochastic resonance under noise intensity fluctuation

We study the effects of noise intensity fluctuations on the stationary and dynamical properties of an overdamped Langevin model with a bistable potential and external periodical driving force. We calculated the stationary distributions, mean-first passage time (MFPT) and the spectral amplification factor using a complete set expansion (CSE) technique. We found resonant activation (RA) and stochastic resonance (SR) phenomena in the system under investigation. Moreover, the strength of RA and SR phenomena exhibit non-monotonic behavior and their trade-off relation as a function of the squared variation coefficient of the noise intensity process. The reliability of CSE is verified with Monte Carlo simulations.     

Nonequilibrium steady state in open quantum systems: Influence action,stochastic equation and power balance

The existence and uniqueness of a steady state for nonequilibrium systems (NESS) is a fundamental subject and a main theme of research in statistical mechanics for decades. For Gaussian systems, such as a chain of classical harmonic oscillators connected at each end to a heat bath, and for classical anharmonic oscillators under specified conditions, definitive answers exist in the form of proven theorems. Answering this question for quantum many-body systems poses a challenge for the present. In this work we address this issue by deriving the stochastic equations for the reduced system with self-consistent backaction from the two baths, calculating the energy flow from one bath to the chain to the other bath, and exhibiting a power balance relation in the total (chain + baths) system which testifies to the existence of a NESS in this system at late times. Its insensitivity to the initial conditions of the chain corroborates to its uniqueness. The functional method we adopt here entails the use of the influence functional, the coarse-grained and stochastic effective actions, from which one can derive the stochastic equations and calculate the average values of physical variables in open quantum systems. This involves both taking the expectation values of quantum operators of the system and the distributional averages of stochastic variables stemming from the coarse-grained environment. This method though formal in appearance is compact and complete. It can also easily accommodate perturbative techniques and diagrammatic methods from field theory. Taken all together it provides a solid platform for carrying out systematic investigations into the nonequilibrium dynamics of open quantum systems and quantum thermodynamics.     

A mathematical framework for critical transitions: Bifurcations, fast-slow systems and stochastic dynamics

Bifurcations can cause dynamical systems with slowly varying parameters to transition to far-away attractors. The terms “critical transition” or “tipping point” have been used to describe this situation. Critical transitions have been observed in an astonishingly diverse set of applications from ecosystems and climate change to medicine and finance. The main goal of this paper is to give an overview which standard mathematical theories can be applied to critical transitions. We shall focus on early-warning signs that have been suggested to predict critical transitions and point out what mathematical theory can provide in this context. Starting from classical bifurcation theory and incorporating multiple time scale dynamics one can give a detailed analysis of local bifurcations that induce critical transitions. We suggest that the mathematical theory of fast-slow systems provides a natural definition of critical transitions. Since noise often plays a crucial role near critical transitions the next step is to consider stochastic fast-slow systems. The interplay between sample path techniques, partial differential equations and random dynamical systems is highlighted. Each viewpoint provides potential early-warning signs for critical transitions. Since increasing variance has been suggested as an early-warning sign we examine it in the context of normal forms analytically, numerically and geometrically; we also consider autocorrelation numerically. Hence we demonstrate the applicability of early-warning signs for generic models. We end with suggestions for future directions of the theory.