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arXiv:0706.0481 · AIP conference proceedings

Quantum networks modelled by graphs

Pavel Exner, Olaf Post, Jacob S. Møller, Dmitri Fedorov

Published Jan 1, 2008• 5 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Quantum networks are often modelled using Schrödinger operators on metric graphs. To give meaning to such models one has to know how to interpret the boundary conditions which match the wave functions at the graph vertices. In this article we give a survey, technically not too heavy, of several recent results which serve this purpose. Specifically, we consider approximations by means of “fat graphs”—in other words, suitable families of shrinking manifolds—and discuss convergence of the spectra and resonances in such a setting.

DOI
10.1063/1.2915634

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Quantum networks are often modelled using Schrödinger operators on metric graphs. To give meaning to such models one has to know how to interpret the boundary conditions which match the wave functions at the graph vertices. In this article we give a survey, technically not too heavy, of several recent results which serve this purpose. Specifically, we consider approximations by means of “fat graphs”—in other words, suitable families of shrinking manifolds—and discuss convergence of the spectra and resonances in such a setting.
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Abstract One usually assumes that the Schrödinger operator on a thin quantum network (“fattened graph”) can be simulated by the ordinary Schrödinger operator on the corresponding one-dimensional quantum graph. On the other hand, each quantum graph can be constructed of standard elements – star graphs. We prove that a thin star-shaped quantum network which consists of a compact domain and a few straight semi-infinite quantum wires, with a two-dimensional Schrödinger operator on it, can be simulated by the corresponding solvable model in form of a one-dimensional star graph: an outer space, with an ordinary Schrödinger operator on the leads, a resonance vertex supplied with an inner space and a finite matrix in it and an appropriate boundary condition connecting the inner and outer components of elements from the domain of the model. The model is (locally) quantitatively consistent: the scattering matrix of the model on a certain spectral interval serves an approximation of the scattering matrix of the network. The role of the constructed star-graph model as a “jump-start” in analytic perturbation procedure on continuous spectrum is discussed.
We consider the dynamics on a quantum graph as the limit of the dynamics generated by a one-particle Hamiltonian in R2 with a potential having a deep strict minimum on the graph, when the width of the well shrinks to zero. For a generic graph we prove convergence outside the vertices to the free dynamics on the edges. For a simple model of a graph with two edges and one vertex, we prove convergence of the dynamics to the one generated by the Laplacian with Dirichlet boundary conditions in the vertex.
Abstract The purpose of the present paper is to discuss the time dependent Schrödinger equation on a metric graph with time-dependent edge lengths, and the proper way to pose the problem so that the corresponding time evolution is unitary. We show that the well posedness of the Schrödinger equation can be guaranteed by replacing the standard Kirchhoff Laplacian with a magnetic Schrödinger operator with a harmonic potential. We then generalize the result to time dependent families of vertex conditions. We also apply the theory to show the existence of a geometric phase associated with a slowly changing quantum graph.
Assembling large-scale quantum networks is a key goal of modern physics research with applications in quantum information and computation. Quantum wires and waveguides in which massive particles propagate in tailored confinement is one promising platform for realizing a quantum network. In the literature, such networks are often treated as quantum graphs, that is, the wave functions are taken to live on graphs of one-dimensional edges meeting in vertices. Hitherto, it has been unclear what boundary conditions on the vertices produce the physical states one finds in nature. This paper treats a quantum network from a physical approach, explicitly finds the physical eigenstates and compares them to the quantum-graph description. The basic building block of a quantum network is an X-shaped potential well made by crossing two quantum wires, and we consider a massive particle in such an X well. The system is analyzed using a variational method based on an expansion into modes with fast convergence and it provides a very clear intuition for the physics of the problem. The particle is found to have a ground state that is exponentially localized to the center of the X well, and the other symmetric solutions are formed so to be orthogonal to the ground state. This is in contrast to the predictions of the conventionally used so-called Kirchoff boundary conditions in quantum graph theory that predict a different sequence of symmetric solutions that cannot be physically realized. Numerical methods have previously been the only source of information on the ground-state wave function and our results provide a different perspective with strong analytical insights. The ground-state wave function has a spatial profile that looks very similar to the shape of a solitonic solution to a nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, enabling an analytical prediction of the wave number. When combining multiple X wells into a network or grid, each site supports a solitonlike localized state. These localized solutions only couple to each other and are able to jump from one site to another as if they were trapped in a discrete lattice.