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arXiv:1704.06235 · Physical review. D/Physical review. D.

Quantum backreaction on classical dynamics

Tanmay Vachaspati

Published Jun 9, 2017• 10 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Motivated by various systems in which quantum effects occur in classical backgrounds, we consider the dynamics of a classical particle as described by a coherent state that is coupled to a quantum bath via biquadratic interactions. We evaluate the resulting quantum dissipation of the motion of the classical particle. We also find classical initial conditions for the bath that effectively lead to the same dissipation as that due to quantum effects, possibly providing a way to approximately account for quantum backreaction within a classical analysis.

DOI
10.1103/physrevd.95.125002

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Motivated by various systems in which quantum effects occur in classical backgrounds, we consider the dynamics of a classical particle as described by a coherent state that is coupled to a quantum bath via biquadratic interactions. We evaluate the resulting quantum dissipation of the motion of the classical particle. We also find classical initial conditions for the bath that effectively lead to the same dissipation as that due to quantum effects, possibly providing a way to approximately account for quantum backreaction within a classical analysis.
We investigate the difference between a quantum and classical bath within the Caldeira-Leggett model for dissipative quantum dynamics.It is well known that a Markovian equation of motion for the reduced dynamics can be derived by taking the classical approximation of the harmonic bath correlation function.However, such approximation is only valid at high temperatures, and it is necessary to include the non-Markovian effect of the quantum bath in more general cases.We show that the equation of motion derived for the classical bath can be extended to the exact quantum one, by simply adding a real stochastic process to take account of the difference between the quantum and classical bath correlation functions.Numerical examples in calculating electron and excitation energy transfer dynamics, as well as absorption spectra of molecular aggregates indicate that the proposed method is a valid approach to extend the existing theories to include the quantum effect of the harmonic bath.The possibility of applying a similar idea to account for the difference between zero and high temperature quantum dissipative dynamics is discussed.
Active matter is characterized by a constant influx and dissipation of energy that gives rise to directed motion. Dissipation requires interactions with an external environment, such that extending the paradigm of active matter to a quantum framework requires an appropriate description of this environment. In this work, we consider a driven quantum particle undergoing noise and dissipation, with external driving exhibiting characteristics of classical activity. We model the non-unitary dynamics with time-local master equations and analyze the particle motion at different time scales for different forms of the master equations, satisfying different criteria. We systematically compare predictions on the dynamics of particle trajectories and thereby we uncover how the particle motion evolves under the interplay of quantum effects, dissipation, and active-like dynamics. These results are essential for guiding possible experiments aimed at realizing quantum analogues of classical active systems.
For many physical systems which can be approximated by a classical background field plus small (linearized) quantum fluctuations, a fundamental question concerns the correct description of the backreaction of the quantum fluctuations onto the dynamics of the classical background. We investigate this problem for the example of dilute atomic/molecular Bose-Einstein condensates, for which the microscopic dynamical behavior is under control. It turns out that the effective-action technique does not yield the correct result in general and that the knowledge of the pseudo-energy-momentum tensor $⟨{\stackrel{^}{T}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\nu}}⟩$ is not sufficient to describe quantum backreaction.
I compare the quantum and classical dynamics of a particle moving in a cosine potential while subject to a time-dependent force. I concentrate here on the behavior of an initially well-localized wave packet at times before the classically chaotic motion is fully developed. I find that the quantum and classical dynamics are indistinguishable well beyond the Ehrenfest time where the wave packet delocalizes. The quantum and classical descriptions first differ precisely when the classical probability density is folded in the vicinity of a hyperbolic fixed point. At this point, the wave function acquires a nodal structure which I show to be the result of a simple beating phenomenon between paths in the semiclassical propagator. When the interaction of the classical manifold with the hyperbolic fixed point leads to escape from the remnant separatrix, representing the onset of classical chaos, the interference associated with the tendril leads to a long-lived accumulation of quantum amplitude on top of the cosine barrier. This effect also has a semiclassical interpretation, meaning that it arises from the interference between classical paths, but one must expand to second order in Planck's constant to describe the behavior correctly. Both the nodal structure and this pinning of amplitude on the barrier are dynamic mechanisms for the quantum inhibition of mixing. I then couple the system to a bath of harmonic oscillators in order to study the effect of the environment on these mechanisms. Although an oscillator bath environment brings dissipation as well as noise to the problem, the noise effect dominates for the high temperature, weak coupling regime I study. When there is sufficient noise to render the interfering classical paths indistinguishable, I find that the quantum interference gets erased. This dephasing occurs at very early times, long before there is appreciable dissipation of energy to the environment. Consequently, one can argue that the presence of an environment, even if its effect would be negligible in a nonchaotic setting, allows for the possibility of quantum mixing.
Abstract Optical solitons classically are stationary solutions of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. We perform a quantum field theoretic treatment by quantising a linearised fluctuation field around the classical soliton solution which can be seen as providing a background spacetime for the field. The linearised fluctuation modifies the soliton background, which is often neglected, reminiscent of the nondepleted-pump approximation. Going beyond this approximation and by using a number-conserving Bogoliubov approach, we find unstable modes that grow as the soliton propagates. Eventually, these unstable modes induce a considerable (backreaction) effect in the soliton. We calculate the backreaction in the classical field fully analytically in the leading second order. The result is a quadratic local decrease of the soliton photon number in propagation due to the backreaction effect of the unstable mode. Provided the initial pulse is close to the classical soliton solution, the unstable mode contributions always become dominant. We also consider practical scenarios for observing this quantum-induced soliton distortion, in the spectral domain. The backreaction, which we expect to be present in bright and dark, discrete and continuous solitons and other nonlinear pulses plays an important role in future optical analogue gravity experiments, for soliton lasers, and optical communications.
The study of dissipative systems holds significant interest in physics.This thesis aims to explore these phenomena in both classical and quantum regimes.In the first part, we utilize the system-reservoir approach to investigate the dynamics of two Brownian particles immersed in the same bath.Two methods are employed to address this problem: one with bilinear coupling and the other with nonlinear coupling between the particles and the bath.The extension of the system to include two particles with bilinear coupling yields unphysical results, such as free-particle motion for the relative coordinate and a lack of interaction between closely spaced particles.To address this issue, authors have been introduced an exponential coupling.In this work, we propose a method to reconcile both linear and nonlinear couplings.We demonstrate how to derive the same nonlinear dissipation rates starting from the bilinear Lagrangian, achieved through a modified spectral function that explicitly depends on the distance between the particles.Additionally, we implement a modified spectral function to mitigate anomalous diffusion observed in the standard nonlinear model, along with a phenomenological model describing hydrodynamic interaction between a pair of Brownian particles in a viscous fluid.In the quantum regime, we adopt the same system-reservoir approach to investigate the dissipative adaptation hypothesis proposed by Jeremy England.This hypothesis proposes a general thermodynamic mechanism that explains the self-organization of systems through the dissipation of work absorbed from an external drive.In the second part of this thesis, we explore the quantum dynamics of systems subjected to an external drive, evaluating the thermodynamic quantities of a self-organization process.To do so, we utilize a time-dependent spin-boson Hamiltonian that characterizes a particle subject to a metastable double potential with time-dependent parameters controlling the asymmetry of the wells.Our objective is to demonstrate that the asymmetric potential can localize the particle in the unstable side of the well and verify that this transition results in the highest energy absorption.In conclusion, we propose further investigations into the driven spin-boson model to establish a comprehensive theory of the system's evolution and its thermodynamic implications.