We consider a simple quantum model of atom-molecule conversion where bosonic atoms can combine into diatomic molecules and vice versa. The many-particle system can be expressed in terms of the generators of a deformed $\text{su}(2)$ algebra, and the mean-field dynamics takes place on a deformed version of the Bloch sphere, a teardrop shaped surface with a cusp singularity. We analyze the mean-field and many-particle correspondence, which shows typical features of quantum-classical correspondence. We demonstrate that semiclassical methods can be employed to recover full many-particle features from the mean-field description in cold atom systems with atom-molecule conversion, and we derive an analytic expression for the many-particle density of states in the limit of large particle numbers.
We consider a simple quantum model of atom-molecule conversion where bosonic atoms can combine into diatomic molecules and vice versa. The many-particle system can be expressed in terms of the generators of a deformed su(2) algebra, and the mean-field dynamics takes place on a deformed version of the Bloch sphere, a teardrop shaped surface with a cusp singularity. We analyze the mean-field and many-particle correspondence, which shows typical features of quantum-classical correspondence. We demonstrate that semiclassical methods can be employed to recover full many-particle features from the mean-field description in cold atom systems with atom-molecule conversion, and we derive an analytic expression for the many-particle density of states in the limit of large particle numbers.
Bosonic quantum conversion systems can be modeled by many-particle single-mode Hamiltonians describing a conversion of m molecules of type A into n molecules of type B and vice versa. These Hamiltonians are analyzed in terms of generators of a polynomially deformed su(2) algebra. In the mean-field limit of large particle numbers, these systems become classical and their Hamiltonian dynamics can again be described by polynomial deformations of a Lie algebra, where quantum commutators are replaced by Poisson brackets. The Casimir operator restricts the motion to Kummer shapes, deformed Bloch spheres with cusp singularities depending on m and n. It is demonstrated that the many-particle eigenvalues can be recovered from the mean-field dynamics using a WKB-type quantization condition. The many-particle state densities can be semiclassically approximated by the time periods of periodic orbits, which show characteristic steps and singularities related to the fixed points, whose bifurcation properties are analyzed.
We have investigated the dynamics of atom-molecule conversion using a periodically driven spin-boson model both quantum mechanically and semiclassically. The semiclassical dynamics is fully chaotic for small driving frequencies, so that the regular atom-molecule conversion gradually vanishes. In quantum mechanics, however, the periodic conversion takes place at small frequencies since the quantum adiabatic condition is fulfilled. Moreover, it survives for rather larger frequencies that breaks the adiabatic condition, which is understood by considering the so-called dynamical localization. It implies that the periodic atom-molecule conversion is more robust than we expect from the semiclassical approximation. We also show that for much larger frequencies delocalization takes place so that the dynamics becomes diffusive.
The thesis addresses the fundamental interplay between indistinguishability and interactions in few- and many-body quantum systems, treated in two separate approaches, both analytic in nature, using semiclassical methods. The few-body sector, considering a strictly fixed number of particles, is addressed within the framework of first quantization. By sticking to descriptions as (micro-)canonical ensembles the approach overcomes the inappropriate use of virial expansions. It is based on cluster expansions where quantum statistics are treated exactly and interparticle forces are described non-perturbatively. After a full formal development the cluster expansions are supplemented with short-time dynamical information that is equated with the description of smooth spectral properties or equivalently temperatures above strong quantum degeneracy, which, in the single-particle context, is the essential ingredient to what is known as semiclassical Weyl expansions. This reduction allows for the fully analytical description of universal features of large classes of systems by either truncating to a specific class of allowed collision processes, i.e., two-body collisions, or by extracting higher-order interaction kernels from related integrable models. The consistent combination with scaling considerations, minimal ground-state information and strong-coupling expansions leads to a toolbox providing most of the thermodynamic and spectral properties of one-dimensional systems with short-range interactions, all in terms of the lowest-order interaction kernels. The analytical results are in excellent qualitative and quantitative agreement with extensive numerical simulations for both integrable and non-integrable models of experimental relevance in cold atom physics. The many-body sector is in contrast treated in the second quantized formulation of quantum mechanics making use of the well-known collection of semiclassical methods that are subsumed under the name periodic orbit theory. As these methods apply in a highly system specific manner, the attractive Bose gas on a ring is chosen as exemplary model to show a case where the semiclassical quantization of mean-field dynamics, here considered as the classical analogue, can be used to obtain analytical non-trivial information on correlation-related many-body effects, especially related to quantum critical behavior in this model. After a simplification by truncating to the lowest single-particle momentum modes the consistent application of Einstein-Brillouin-Keller quantization yields a description valid for large numbers of bosons. Besides analytically reproducing numerical spectra to high accuracy, the approach enables one to extract asymptotic scaling laws for level spacings around quantum criticality, representing properties. These (finite) energy differences are intrinsically tied to inter-particle correlations and therefore elude a more conventional description by means of a mean-field theory extended with Bogoliubov quasi particles. An application to the scrambling time of the system, related to a pseudo quantum butterfly effect that stems from a local instability, underlines the importance of the method in the otherwise inaccessible regime of extreme particle numbers.
Abstract Based on the mean-field approximation and the two-mode Bose–Hubbard model, we investigate the dynamical properties of atom-polyatomic molecule conversion systems under dissipation and dephasing. For such a many-body system problem, we partition phase space based on the states of fixed points, study the movement of fixed points and the transition to attractors in an open system. Additionally, for all the atoms that constitute a molecule, depending on whether the species of these atoms are identical or not, we introduce the innovative concepts of unbiased and biased systems. We discover that in biased conversion systems under particle losses, the evolution trajectories are distributed on a three-dimensional Bloch sphere with an internal structure. There exists a significant difference from the two-dimensional Hilbert space of an unbiased system. Finally, we discuss the sweeping rate of the time-varying magnetic field applied externally to the conversion system, and analyze a feasible scheme for the quantum coherent synthesis of triatomic molecules.
We investigate the conversion dynamics of ultracold bosonic atoms to molecules in an external field with a Gaussian temporal shape and a linear frequency sweep. Under the mean-field theory, we study the atom–molecule conversion efficiency and the dynamics in the conversion process. By using the Fock-state basis, we further research the quantum many-body dynamics, wherein the many-body effect on the conversion is discussed. We find that the atom–molecule conversion dynamics depend on the particle interaction, peak coupled strength, sweep rate, and total particle number. Notably, some analytical results are derived in the regime without particle interactions and in the sudden limit, respectively. Our theory indicates that the ultracold atom–molecule conversion can be achieved stably and efficiently in the Gaussian external field model.
In this thesis, we study semiclassical phase-space methods for quantum evolution in Hermitian and non-Hermitian systems. We first present the dynamics of Gaussian wave packets under non-Hermitian Hamiltonians and interpret them as a classical dynamics for complex Hamiltonians. We use these to derive exact dynamics for wave packets in the quadratic Swanson oscillator. We show that in the case of unbroken PT-symmetry there can be periodic divergences in this system and relate this to the fact that any operator mapping the system to a Hermitian counterpart is unbounded. We apply the semiclassical wave-packet dynamics to two further anharmonic example systems: a PT-symmetric wave guide, a version of which we propose as a filtering device for optical beams, and a non-Hermitian single-band tight-binding model, for which we use classical equations of motion to model both narrowly and widely distributed initial states. We further develop an exact quantum propagator for non-Hermitian dynamics using lattices of wave packets, whose evolution is governed by the semiclassical equations of motion. We demonstrate that this accurately reproduces quantum dynamics compared to the split operator method. Finally we study a Hermitian two-mode many-particle model for bosonic atom-molecule conversion, for which the classical phase-space structure is an orbifold. We show that standard semiclassical tools may be applied to recover features such as the dynamics, spectrum and density of states of the many-particle system.