Method of semiclassical representation in quantum electrodynamics

The operators of the classical amplitudes of an electromagnetic field are introduced and a method of transferring from quantum electrodynamics to the semiclassical approximation both in the case of a free field and in the case of the interaction of the field with a quantum system is given. The method considered enables one to set up solutions of quantum electrodynamics in the case of an intense field from the solutions of the semiclassical problem. An operator method of obtaining solutions of the equations of semiclassical electrodynamics is considered. The physical meaning of the quantum corrections to the semiclassical electrodynamics of an intense field is discussed.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 77–98, February, 1980.     

Spreading of atomic wave packets and semiclassical chaos

The correspondence between the statistical properties of the evolution of a quantum system and Lyapunov instability and the chaos of its semiclassical analog has been demonstrated. The results of the analyses of atomic motion in a laser field in the semiclassical approximation (dynamics is described by several nonlinear equations) and without this approximation (dynamics is described by an infinite system of linear equations) are compared. In the ranges of the parameters for which the semiclassical dynamics of point-like atoms is unstable, the fast “spreading” of quantized wave packets in the momentum space is observed. Thus, deterministic chaos “imitates” the statistics of the quantum nondeterministic effects, although the semiclassical and quantum solutions are fundamentally different.     

Stability of Semiclassical Gravity Solutions with Respect to Quantum Metric Fluctuations

We discuss the stability of semiclassical gravity solutions with respect to small quantum corrections by considering the quantum fluctuations of the metric perturbations around the semiclassical solution. We call the attention to the role played by the symmetrized 2-point quantum correlation function for the metric perturbations, which can be naturally decomposed into two separate contributions: intrinsic and induced fluctuations. We show that traditional criteria on the stability of semiclassical gravity are incomplete because these criteria based on the linearized semiclassical Einstein equation can only provide information on the expectation value and the intrinsic fluctuations of the metric perturbations. By contrast, the framework of stochastic semiclassical gravity provides a more complete and accurate criterion because it contains information on the induced fluctuations as well. The Einstein–Langevin equation therein contains a stochastic source characterized by the noise kernel (the symmetrized 2-point quantum correlation function of the stress tensor operator) and yields stochastic correlation functions for the metric perturbations which agree, to leading order in the large N limit, with the quantum correlation functions of the theory of gravity interacting with N matter fields. These points are illustrated with the example of Minkowski space-time as a solution to the semiclassical Einstein equation, which is found to be stable under both intrinsic and induced fluctuations.     

Kinematics of evaporating black holes

The correspondence principle and causality divide the spacetime of a macroscopic collapsing mass into three regions: classical, semiclassical, and ultraviolet. The semiclassical region covers the entire evolution of the black hole from the macroscopic to the microscopic scale if the latter is reached. It is shown that the metric in the semiclassical region is expressed purely kinematically through the Bondi charges. The only quantum calculation needed is the one of radiation at infinity. The ultraviolet ignorance of semiclassical theory is irrelevant. The metric with arbitrary Bondi charges is obtained and studied.     

Periodic Orbit Quantization: How to make Semiclassical Trace Formulae Convergent

Periodic orbit quantization requires an analytic continuation of non-convergent semiclassical trace formulae. We propose two different methods for semiclassical quantization. The first method is based upon the harmonic inversion of semiclassical recurrence functions. A band-limited periodic orbit signal is obtained by analytical frequency windowing of the periodic orbit sum. The frequencies of the periodic orbit signal are the semiclassical eigenvalues, and are determined by either linear predictor, Padé approximant, or signal diagonalization. The second method is based upon the direct application of the Padé approximant to the periodic orbit sum. The Padé approximant allows the resummation of the, typically exponentially, divergent periodic orbit terms. Both techniques do not depend on the existence of a symbolic dynamics, and can be applied to bound as well as to open systems. Numerical results are presented for two different systems with chaotic and regular classical dynamics, viz. the three-disk scattering system and the circle billiard.     

A semiclassical approach to the ground state and density oscillations of quantum dots

A semiclassical Thomas–Fermi method, including a Weizsäcker gradient term, is implemented to describe ground states of two-dimensional nanostructures of arbitrary shape. Time-dependent density oscillations are addressed in the same spirit using the corresponding semiclassical time-dependent equations. The validity of the approximations is tested, both for ground state and density oscillations, compared with the available microscopic Kohn–Sham solutions.     

On the Pseudopotential Model of Interacting Particle and Electrical Conductivity of Fully Ionized Plasma

The value of the Coulomb logarithm, as a determining factor in investigations on the kinetic properties of plasma, is calculated on the basis of effective potentials of particle interactions of dense semiclassical plasma. The expression for the electrical conductivity of dense semiclassical nonideal plasma, which is compared with the results of other authors, is calculated using the Coulomb logarithm. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Semiclassical theory of integrable and rough Andreev billiards

We study the effect on the density of states in mesoscopic ballistic billiards to which a superconducting lead is attached. The expression for the density of states is derived in the semiclassical S-matrix formalism shedding light onto the origin of the differences between the semiclassical theory and the corresponding result derived from random matrix models. Applications to a square billiard geometry and billiards with boundary roughness are discussed. The saturation of the quasiparticle excitation spectrum is related to the classical dynamics of the billiard. The influence of weak magnetic fields on the proximity effect in rough Andreev billiards is discussed and an analytical formula is derived. The semiclassical theory provides an interpretation for the suppression of the proximity effect in the presence of magnetic fields as a coherence effect of time reversed trajectories. It is shown to be in good agreement with quantum mechanical calculations. Received 21 August 1999 and Received in final form 21 March 2001     

Realization of -bit semiclassical quantum Fourier transform on IBM's quantum cloud computer

To overcome the difficulty of realizing large-scale quantum Fourier transform(QFT) within existing technology, this paper implements a resource-saving method(named t-bit semiclassical QFT over Z_(2~n)), which could realize large-scale QFT using an arbitrary-scale quantum register. By developing a feasible method to realize the control quantum gate Rk, we experimentally realize the 2-bit semiclassical QFT over Z_(2~3) on IBM's quantum cloud computer, which shows the feasibility of the method. Then, we compare the actual performance of 2-bit semiclassical QFT with standard QFT in the experiments.The squared statistical overlap experimental data shows that the fidelity of 2-bit semiclassical QFT is higher than that of standard QFT, which is mainly due to fewer two-qubit gates in the semiclassical QFT. Furthermore, based on the proposed method, N = 15 is successfully factorized by implementing Shor's algorithm.     

Semiclassical propagator and van Vleck determinant in a mixed position--momentum space

In this paper a semiclassical propagator in a mixed position--momentum space is derived in the formalism of Maslov's multi-dimensional semiclassical theory. The corresponding mixed van Vleck determinant is also given explicitly. The propagator can be used to locally fix semiclassical divergences in singular regions of configuration space. It is shown that when a semiclassical propagator is transformed from one representation to another, its form is invariant.     

Light scattering,origin invariant multipole moments and molecular property tensors: the case of electric-field-gradient-induced birefringence

A comparison of semiclassical and quantum versions of molecular light scattering theory at finite temperatures is presented. A general formulation of the semiclassical radiation model is developed to the point where its relationship to the corresponding QED formalism can be established: the classical scattered electric field is proportional to the same R-matrix element as that obtained from QED for the photon scattering amplitude. The result is valid for non-resonant scattering at T = 0. The semiclassical theory conventionally also inherits aspects of a classical molecular model, principally origin-dependent molecular multipole moments. Origin independent multipoles, and corresponding response functions can be defined if the theory is cast in terms of centre-of-mass and translation invariant internal coordinates. Such a choice of coordinates brings molecular light scattering theory into line with the theory of the molecular Schrödinger equation. This is illustrated for the case of a diatomic molecule. A specific application of these results of current interest is electric-field-gradient induced birefringence (EFGB) for which there are four competing theories in the literature. In this paper we examine the treatment of finite temperature effects in two semiclassical accounts of EFGB in polar molecules and identify a likely source of the discrepancy between them revealed in a recent ab initio computational study.     

Semiclassical regime of Regge calculus and spin foams

Recent attempts to recover the graviton propagator from spin foam models involve the use of a boundary quantum state peaked on a classical geometry. The question arises whether beyond the case of a single simplex this suffices for peaking the interior geometry in a semiclassical configuration. In this paper we explore this issue in the context of quantum Regge calculus with a general triangulation. Via a stationary phase approximation, we show that the boundary state succeeds in peaking the interior in the appropriate configuration, and that boundary correlations can be computed order by order in an asymptotic expansion. Further, we show that if we replace at each simplex the exponential of the Regge action by its cosine—as expected from the semiclassical limit of spin foam models—then the contribution from the sign-reversed terms is suppressed in the semiclassical regime and the results match those of conventional Regge calculus.     

Semiclassical Limit for Generalized KdV Equations Before the Gradient Catastrophe

We study the semiclassical limit of the (generalized) KdV equation, for initial data with Sobolev regularity, before the time of the gradient catastrophe of the limit conservation law. In particular, we show that in the semiclassical limit the solution of the KdV equation: i) converges in H ^s to the solution of the Hopf equation, provided the initial data belongs to H ^s , ii) admits an asymptotic expansion in powers of the semiclassical parameter, if the initial data belongs to the Schwartz class. The result is also generalized to KdV equations with higher order linearities.     

Semiclassical States Associated with Isotropic Submanifolds of Phase Space

We define classes of quantum states associated with isotropic submanifolds of cotangent bundles. The classes are stable under the action of semiclassical pseudo-differential operators and covariant under the action of semiclassical Fourier integral operators. We develop a symbol calculus for them; the symbols are symplectic spinors. We outline various applications.     

Semiclassical theory of molecular collisions: Real and complex-valued classical trajectories for collinear atom Morse oscillator collisions

Real and complex-valued classical trajectories have been calculated for the collinear collision of an atom with a Morse oscillator. They are used in three semiclassical approximations for the transition probability: a Bessel uniform approximation, an Airy uniform approximation and a primitive semiclassical approximation. Comparison with exact quantum results shows that the Bessel uniform approximation is accurate even for near elastic collisions where the Airy and primitive approximations break down. The Airy and Bessel approximations agree quite closely for inelastic collisions however. The primitive semiclassical approximation is less accurate than either the Airy or Bessel approximation.     

Resonant tunneling through Andreev levels

We use a semiclassical approach for analyzing the tunneling transport through a normal conductor in contact with superconducting mirrors. Our analysis of the electron–hole propagation along semiclassical trajectories shows that resonant transmission through Andreev levels is possible resulting in an excess, low-energy quasiparticle contribution to the conductance. The excess conductance oscillates with the phase difference between the superconductors having maxima at odd multiples of π for temperatures much below the Thouless temperature.     

A second look at the Gaussian semiclassical soliton ensemble for the focusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation

We study the Gaussian semiclassical soliton ensemble, a collection of multisoliton solutions of the focusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The ensemble is generated by adding a particular asymptotically vanishing sequence of perturbations to Gaussian initial data. Recent results (Lee et al., 2012) [21] suggest that, remarkably, these perturbations — interlaced as they are with the integrable structure of the equation — do not excite the acute modulational instabilities known to be present in the semiclassical regime. Our results here highlight the exceptional nature of these perturbations and provide new insight into the sensitivity properties of the related semiclassical limit problem.