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arXiv:2008.13717 · Journal of Physics Conference Series

Quantum catastrophes from an algebraic perspective

A. Leviatan, N. Gavrielov

Published Aug 1, 2020• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract We study the properties of quantum cusp and butterfly catastrophes from an algebraic viewpoint. The analysis employs an interacting boson model Hamiltonian describing quantum phase transitions between specific quadrupole shapes by interpolating between two incompatible dynamical symmetry limits. The classical properties are determined by using coherent states to construct the complete phase diagrams associated with Landau potentials exhibiting such catastrophes. The quantum properties are determined by analyzing the spectra, transition rates and symmetry character of the eigenstates of critical Hamiltonians.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/1612/1/012020

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Abstract We study the properties of quantum cusp and butterfly catastrophes from an algebraic viewpoint. The analysis employs an interacting boson model Hamiltonian describing quantum phase transitions between specific quadrupole shapes by interpolating between two incompatible dynamical symmetry limits. The classical properties are determined by using coherent states to construct the complete phase diagrams associated with Landau potentials exhibiting such catastrophes. The quantum properties are determined by analyzing the spectra, transition rates and symmetry character of the eigenstates of critical Hamiltonians.
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We analyze in detail the quantum phase transitions that arise in models based on the u (2) algebraic description for bosonic systems with two types of scalar bosons. First we discuss the quantum phase transition that occurs in hamiltonians that admix the two dynamical symmetry chains u (2)⊃ u (1) and u (2) ⊃so(2) by diagonalizing the problem exactly in the u(1) basis. Then we apply the coherent state formalism to determine the energy functional. Finally we show that a quantum phase transition of a different nature, but displaying similar characteristics, may arise also within a single chain just by including higher order terms in the hamiltonian.
We establish a rigorous mathematical bridge from quantum many-body path integrals to the cusp catastrophe model by Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction, which provides a theoretical foundation for analyzing superconducting phase transition using the catastrophe theory. First, it is proved that, near the critical point the infinite-dimensional effective action is diffeomorphic to a finite-dimensional catastrophe. Secondly, starting from Ginzburg-Landau free energy functional, the Euler-Lagrange partial differential equation can be reduced to the cusp catastrophe model. Thirdly, the fermionic imaginary-time path integral to the cusp catastrophe is derived through the Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation, Matsubara frequency expansion, and Grassmann algebra. Furthermore, we connect this framework with the adsorption potential theory we proposed, elucidating the catastrophic topological nature of the electron pairing mechanism in high-temperature superconductivity. The precise microscopic derivation of the adsorption potential from first-principles electronic structure calculations would strengthen the predictive power of the theory.
The quantum-mechanical system whose potential is the cusp catastrophe is studied. The qualitative features of this system, including the eigenvalue spectrum, density of states, wave-function localization and delocalization, probability distribution, operator expectation values, and matrix elements, are studied as functions of the cusp control parameter values. Canonical features preceding and accompanying the transition from the single-mode to the double-mode regime have been determined. The relationships between the qualitative properties of the quantum cusp and the canonical properties of the cusp catastrophes are exhibited.
We study quasicritical phenomena in transitions between two "quantum phases" of a finite boson system, described by the interacting boson model 1 used in nuclear physics. The model is formulated in the algebraic framework and has a simple geometrical interpretation; the "phases" represented by dynamical symmetries U(5) and SU(3) correspond to spherical and deformed nuclear shapes. The quasicriticality of the U(5)-SU(3) transition is shown to be connected with the following phenomena simultaneously occurring in a narrow parameter region between the symmetries: (a) abrupt structural changes of eigenstates, (b) multiple avoided crossing of levels, (c) peaked density of exceptional points, (d) qualitative changes of the corresponding classical potential. We show that these spectroscopic features influence the dynamics of intersymmetry transitions in the model parameter space if the parameters themselves become dynamical variables.
Abstract As part of the quest to uncover universal features of quantum dynamics, we study catastrophes that form in simple many-particle wave functions following a quench, focusing on two-mode systems that include the two-site Bose–Hubbard model, and under some circumstances optomechanical systems and the Dicke model. When the wave function is plotted in Fock space certain characteristic shapes, that we identify as cusp catastrophes, appear under generic conditions. In the vicinity of a cusp the wave function takes on a universal structure described by the Pearcey function and obeys scaling relations which depend on the total number of particles N . In the thermodynamic limit ( N → ∞ ) the cusp becomes singular, but at finite N it is decorated by an interference pattern. This pattern contains an intricate network of vortex–antivortex pairs, initiating a theory of topological structures in Fock space. In the case where the quench is a δ -kick the problem can be solved analytically and we obtain scaling exponents for the size and position of the cusp, as well as those for the amplitude and characteristic length scales of its interference pattern. Finally, we use these scalings to describe the wave function in the critical regime of a Z 2 symmetry-breaking dynamical phase transition.