Theory of Non-Equilibrium Stationary States as a Theory of Resonances

We study a small quantum system (e.g., a simplified model for an atom or molecule) interacting with two bosonic or fermionic reservoirs (say, photon or phonon fields). We show that the combined system has a family of stationary states parametrized by two numbers, T ₁ and T ₂ (‘reservoir temperatures’). If T ₁ ≠ T ₂, then these states are non-equilibrium stationary states (NESS). In the latter case we show that they have nonvanishing heat fluxes and positive entropy production and are dynamically asymptotically stable. The latter means that the evolution with an initial condition, normal with respect to any state where the reservoirs are in equilibria at temperatures T ₁ and T ₂, converges to the corresponding NESS. Our results are valid for the temperatures satisfying the bound min (T ₁,T ₂) > g ^{2 + α}, where g is the coupling constant and 0 < α < 1 is a power related to the infra-red behaviour of the coupling functions. Submitted: March 20, 2006. Revised: March 19, 2007. Accepted: May 11, 2007. Marco Merkli: Partly supported by an NSERC PDF, the Institute of Theoretical Physics of ETH Zürich, Switzerland, the Departments of Mathematics of McGill University and the University of Toronto, Canada. Matthias Mück: Supported by DAAD under grant HSP III. Israel Michael Sigal: Supported by NSERC under grant NA7901.     

Level shift operators for open quantum systems

Level shift operators describe the second-order displacement of eigenvalues under perturbation. They play a central role in resonance theory and ergodic theory of open quantum systems at positive temperatures. We exhibit intrinsic properties of level shift operators, properties which stem from the structure of open quantum systems at positive temperatures and which are common to all such systems. They determine the geometry of resonances bifurcating from eigenvalues of positive temperature Hamiltonians and they relate the Gibbs state, the kernel of level shift operators, and zero energy resonances. We show that degeneracy of energy levels of the small part of the open quantum system causes the Fermi Golden Rule Condition to be violated and we analyze ergodic properties of such systems.     

Dissipative Transport: Thermal Contacts and Tunnelling Junctions

The general theory of simple transport processes between quantum mechanical reservoirs is reviewed and extended. We focus on thermoelectric phenomena, involving exchange of energy and particles. The theory is illustrated on the example of two reservoirs of free fermions coupled through a local interaction. We construct a stationary state and determine energy and particle currents with the help of a convergent perturbation series. We explicitly calculate several interesting quantities to lowest order, such as the entropy production rate, the resistance, and the heat conductivity. Convergence of the perturbation series allows us to prove that they are strictly positive under suitable smallness and regularity assumptions on the interaction between the reservoirs. Communicated by Gian Michele Graf submitted 15/01/03, accepted: 25/02/03     

A Universality Property of Gaussian Analytic Functions

We consider random analytic functions defined on the unit disk of the complex plane f(z) = ?_n=0^￥ a_n X_n zⁿf(z) = \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} a_{n} X_{n} z^{n}, where the X _n ’s are i.i.d., complex-valued random variables with mean zero and unit variance. The coefficients a _n are chosen so that f(z) is defined on a domain of ℂ carrying a planar or hyperbolic geometry, and Ef(z)[`(f(w))]\mathbf{E}f(z)\overline{f(w)} is covariant with respect to the isometry group. The corresponding Gaussian analytic functions have been much studied, and their zero sets have been considered in detail in a monograph by Hough, Krishnapur, Peres, and Virág. We show that for non-Gaussian coefficients, the zero set converges in distribution to that of the Gaussian analytic functions as one transports isometrically to the boundary of the domain. The proof is elementary and general.     

Thermal Ionization

In the context of an idealized model describing an atom coupled to black-body radiation at a sufficiently high positive temperature, we show that the atom will end up being ionized in the limit of large times. Mathematically, this is translated into the statement that the coupled system does not have any time-translation invariant state of positive (asymptotic) temperature, and that the expectation value of an arbitrary finite-dimensional projection in an arbitrary initial state of positive (asymptotic) temperature tends to zero, as time tends to infinity. These results are formulated within the general framework of W ^*-dynamical systems, and the proofs are based on Mourre's theory of positive commutators and a new virial theorem. Results on the so-called standard form of a von Neumann algebra play an important role in our analysis.     

Instability of equilibrium states for coupled heat reservoirs at different temperatures

We consider quantum systems consisting of a “small” system coupled to two reservoirs (called open systems). We show that such systems have no equilibrium states normal with respect to any state of the decoupled system in which the reservoirs are at different temperatures, provided that either the temperatures or the temperature difference divided by the product of the temperatures are not too small. Our proof involves an elaborate spectral analysis of a general class of generators of the dynamics of open quantum systems, including quantum Liouville operators (“positive temperature Hamiltonians”) which generate the dynamics of the systems under consideration.     

Positive Commutators in Non-Equilibrium Quantum Statistical Mechanics

The method of positive commutators, developed for zero temperature problems over the last twenty years, has been an essential tool in the spectral analysis of Hamiltonians in quantum mechanics. We extend this method to positive temperatures, i.e. to non-equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics. We use the positive commutator technique to give an alternative proof of a fundamental property of a certain class of large quantum systems, called Return to Equilibrium. This property says that equilibrium states are (asymptotically) stable: if a system is slightly perturbed from its equilibrium state, then it converges back to that equilibrium state as time goes to infinity. Received: 27 December 2000 / Accepted: 21 June 2001