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arXiv:1410.4367

The Quantum Liouville Equation is non-Liouvillian

Dimitris Kakofengitis, Ole Steuernagel

Published Oct 16, 2014• 1 citation
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Abstract

The Hamiltonian flow of a classical, time-independent, conservative system is incompressible, it is Liouvillian. The analog of Hamilton's equations of motion for a quantum-mechanical system is the quantum-Liouville equation. It is shown that its associated quantum flow in phase space, Wigner flow, is not incompressible. It gives rise to a quantum analog of classical Hamiltonian vector fields: the Wigner phase space velocity field~$\bm w$, the divergence of which can be unbounded. The loci of such unbounded divergence form lines in phase space which coincide with the lines of zero of the Wigner function. Along these lines exist characteristic pinch points which coincide with stagnation points of the Wigner flow.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1410.4367

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The Hamiltonian flow of a classical, time-independent, conservative system is incompressible, it is Liouvillian. The analog of Hamilton's equations of motion for a quantum-mechanical system is the quantum-Liouville equation. It is shown that its associated quantum flow in phase space, Wigner flow, is not incompressible. It gives rise to a quantum analog of classical Hamiltonian vector fields: the Wigner phase space velocity field~w\bm ww, the divergence of which can be unbounded. The loci of such unbounded divergence form lines in phase space which coincide with the lines of zero of the Wigner function. Along these lines exist characteristic pinch points which coincide with stagnation points of the Wigner flow.
A fluid analog of the information flux in the phase-space associated to purity and von Neumann entropy is identified in the Weyl-Wigner formalism of quantum mechanics. Once constrained by symmetry and positiveness, the encountered continuity equations provide novel quantifiers for non-classicality (non-Liouvillian fluidity) given in terms of quantum decoherence, purity and von Neumann entropy fluxes. Through definitions in the Weyl-Wigner formalism, one can identify the quantum fluctuations that distort the classical-quantum coincidence regime, and the corresponding quantum information profile, whenever some bounded x − p volume of the phase-space is specified. The dynamics of anharmonic systems is investigated in order to illustrate such a novel paradigm for describing quantumness and classicality through the flux of quantum information in the phase-space.
Liouville theorem (L theorem) reveals robust incompressibility of the distribution function in phase space, given arbitrary potentials. However, its quantum generalization, Wigner flow, is compressible, i.e., L theorem is only conditionally true (e.g., for perfect Harmonic potential). We develop quantum L theorem (rigorous incompressibility) for arbitrary potentials (interacting or not) in Hamiltonians. Haar measure, instead of symplectic measure $dp\ensuremath{\wedge}dq$ used in Wigner's scheme, plays a central role. The argument is based on general measure theory, independent of specific spaces or coordinates. Comparison of classical and quantum is made: for instance, we address why Haar measure and metric preservation do not work in the classical case. Applications of the theorems in statistics, topological phase transition, ergodic theory, etc., are discussed.
The behaviour of classical mechanical systems is characterised by their phase portraits, the collections of their trajectories. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle precludes the existence of sharply defined trajectories, which is why traditionally only the time evolution of wave functions is studied in quantum dynamics. These studies are quite insensitive to the underlying structure of quantum phase space dynamics. We identify the flow that is the quantum analog of classical particle flow along phase portrait lines. It reveals hidden features of quantum dynamics and extra complexity. Being constrained by conserved flow winding numbers, it also reveals fundamental topological order in quantum dynamics that has so far gone unnoticed.
We suggest an extension of the Hilbert Phase Space formalism, which appears to be naturally suited for application to the dissipative (open) quantum systems, such as those described by the non-stationary (time-dependent) Hamiltonians H(x,p,t)H(x,p,t)H(x,p,t). A notion of quantum differential is introduced, highlighting the difference between the quantum and classical propagators. The equation of quantum dynamics of the generalised Wigner function in the extended Hilbert phase space is derived, as well as its classical limit, which serves as the generalisation of the classical Liouville equation for the domain of non-stationary Hamiltonian dynamical systems. This classical limit is then studied at some length and it is shown that in the extended phase space the energy plays the role of the coordinate and time that of the conjugated momentum and not the other way around, as might be suggested by the covariant treatment of these quantities arising from the 4-coordinate and 4-momentum in the relativistic context. Furthermore, the canonical form of the equation obtained suggests that that which is perceived as motion in the ordinary phase space is an equilibrium configuration in the extended phase space.
This paper describes the states of quantum versions of finite dimensional Hamilton–Dirac systems in terms of (analogues of) the Wigner function (various definitions of Wigner functions for classical Hamiltonian systems can be found in [8]). We give a system of equations, which we call the Moyal–Dirac system, describing the evolution of this Wigner function. The passage from the Moyal equation describing the evolution of the quantum version of a classical Hamiltonian system to the Moyal–Dirac system describing the evolution of the quantum version of the corresponding Hamilton–Dirac system is similar to the passage from the Liouville equation describing the evolution of a classical Hamiltonian system to the Liouville–Dirac system of equations describing the evolution of the corresponding Hamilton–Dirac system. Thus, our Moyal–Dirac system is a generalization of both the Liouville–Dirac system and the Moyal equation
Abstract The Moyal equation describes the evolution of the Wigner function of a quantum system in the phase space. The right-hand side of the equation contains an infinite series with coefficients proportional to powers of the Planck constant. There is an interpretation of the Moyal equation as a quantum analogue of the classical Liouville equation. Indeed, if one uses the notion of the classical passage to the limit as the Planck constant tends to zero, then formally the right-hand side of the Moyal equation tends to zero. As a result, the Moyal equation becomes the classical Liouville equation for the distribution function. In this paper, we show that the right side of the Moyal equation does not explicitly depend on the Planck constant, and all terms of the series can make a significant contribution. The transition between the classical and quantum descriptions is related not to the Planck constant, but to the spatial scale. For a model quantum system with a potential in the form of a «quadratic funnel», an exact 3D solution of the Schrödinger equation is found and the corresponding Wigner function is constructed in the paper. Using trajectory analysis in the phase space, based on the representation of the right-hand side of the Moyal equation, it is shown that on the spatial microscale there is an infinite number of «trajectories» of the particle motion (thereby the concept of a trajectory is indefinite), and when passing to the macroscale, all «trajectories» concentrate around the classical trajectory.