The quantum dynamics of arbitrary
N-level systems, including dissipative systems, are modeled exactly here by the dynamics of classical coupled oscillators. A one-to-one correspondence is established between the quantum states and the positions of the oscillators. Quantum coherence, expectation values, and measurement probabilities for system observables can therefore be realized from the corresponding classical states. Although the well-known equivalence [SU(2), SO(3) homomorphism] of two-level quantum dynamics to a rotation in real, physical space cannot be generalized to arbitrary
N-level systems, the representation of quantum dynamics by a system of coupled harmonic oscillators in one physical dimension
is general for any
N. The time evolution of an
N-level system [generated by a complex element of the SU(
N) group], is first represented as the rotation of a real state vector in (unphysical) hyperspace, as previously known for density matrix states and also extended here to include Schr\"odinger states. The resulting rotor in
n Euclidean dimensions [the rotation group SO(
n)] is then mapped directly to
n oscillators in one physical dimension, which significantly reduces the level of abstraction required to visualize quantum dynamics compared to vector models or generalized Bloch spheres in higher dimensions. The number of such oscillators needed to represent
N-level systems scales as
N2 for the density matrix formalism but increases only linearly with
N for Schr\"odinger states. Values for the classical coupling constants are readily derived from the system Hamiltonian, allowing construction of classical mechanical systems that provide insight into the dynamics of abstract quantum systems (new dynamical invariants) as well as a metric for characterizing the interface between quantum and classical mechanics. A distinctive attribute of the quantum-classical connection as presented here is the necessity for both positive and negative couplings and, in the case of dissipative systems, antisymmetric couplings.
Some of the most enduring questions in physics--including the quantum measurement problem and the quantization of gravity--involve the interaction of a quantum system with a classical environment. Two linearly coupled harmonic oscillators provide a simple, exactly soluble model for exploring such interaction. Even the ground state of a pair of identical oscillators exhibits effects on the quantum nature of one oscillator, e.g., a diminution of position uncertainty, and an increase in momentum uncertainty and uncertainty product, from their unperturbed values. Interaction between quantum and classical oscillators is simulated by constructing a quantum state with one oscillator initially in its ground state, the other in a coherent or Glauber state. The subsequent wave function for this state is calculated exactly, both for identical and distinct oscillators. The reduced probability distribution for the quantum oscillator, and its position and momentum expectation values and uncertainties, are obtained from this wave function. The oscillator acquires an oscillation amplitude corresponding to a beating between the normal modes of the system; the behavior of the position and momentum uncertainties can become quite complicated. For oscillators with equal unperturbed frequencies, i.e., at resonance, the uncertainties exhibit a time-dependent quantum squeezing which can be extreme.
Madelung showed how the complex Schrödinger equation can be rewritten in terms of two real equations, one for the phase and one for the amplitude of the complex wave function, where both equations are not independent of each other, but coupled. Although these equations formally look like classical hydrodynamic equations, they contain all the information about the quantum system. Concerning the quantum mechanical uncertainties of position and momentum, however, this is not so obvious at first sight. We show how these uncertainties are related to the phase and amplitude of the wave function in position and momentum space and, particularly, that the contribution from the phase essentially depends on the position-momentum correlations. This will be illustrated explicitly using generalized coherent states as examples.
The time-dependent Schrodinger equation with time-independent Hamiltonian matrix is a homogeneous linear oscillatory system in canonical form. We investigate whether any classical system that itself is linear, homogeneous, oscillatory and conservative is guaranteed to linearly map into a Schrodinger equation. Such oscillatory classical systems can be analyzed into their normal modes, which are mutually independent, uncoupled simple harmonic oscillators, and the equation of motion of such a system linearly maps into a Schrodinger equation whose Hamiltonian matrix is diagonal, with h times the individual simple harmonic oscillator frequencies as its diagonal entries. Therefore if the coupling-strength matrix of such an oscillatory system is presented in symmetric, positive-definite form, the Hamiltonian matrix of the Schrodinger equation it maps into is h-bar times the square root of that coupling-strength matrix. We obtain a general expression for mapping this type of oscillatory classical equation of motion into a Schrodinger equation, and apply it to the real-valued classical Klein-Gordon equation and the source-free Maxwell equations, which results in relativistic Hamiltonian operators that are strictly compatible with the correspondence principle. Once such an oscillatory classical system has been mapped into a Schrodinger equation, it is automatically in canonical form, making second quantization of that Schrodinger equation a technically simple as well as a physically very interpretable way to quantize the original classical system.
We develop a general `classicalization' procedure that links Hilbert-space and phase-space operators, using Weyl's operator. Then we transform the time-dependent Schrödinger equation into a phase-space picture using free parameters. They include position Q and momentum P . We expand the phase-space Hamiltonian in an ℏ-Taylor series and fix parameters with the condition that coefficients of ℏ 0 , -iℏ 1 ∂/∂ Q and iℏ 1 ∂/∂ P vanish. This condition results in generalized Hamilton equations and a natural link between classical and quantum dynamics, while the quantum motion-equation remains exact . In this picture, the Schrödinger equation reduces in the classical limit to a generalized Liouville equation for the quantum-mechanical system state. We modify Glauber's coherent states with a suitable phase factor S ( Q , P , t ) and use them to obtain phase-space representations of quantum dynamics and quantum-mechanical quantities.