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arXiv:2104.06638

Wigner Function for Harmonic Oscillator and The Classical Limit

Jan Mostowski, Joanna Pietraszewicz

Published Apr 14, 2021• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The Wigner function is a quantum analogue of the classical joined distribution of position and momentum. As such is should be a good tool to study quantum-classical correspondence. In this paper, the classical limit of the Wigner function is shown using the quantum harmonic oscillator as an example. The Wigner function is found exactly for all states. The semi-classical wavefunctions for highly excited states are used as the approach to the classical limit. Therefore, one can found the classical limit of the Wigner function for highly excited states and shown that it gives the classical microcanonical ensemble.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2104.06638

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The Wigner function is a quantum analogue of the classical joined distribution of position and momentum. As such is should be a good tool to study quantum-classical correspondence. In this paper, the classical limit of the Wigner function is shown using the quantum harmonic oscillator as an example. The Wigner function is found exactly for all states. The semi-classical wavefunctions for highly excited states are used as the approach to the classical limit. Therefore, one can found the classical limit of the Wigner function for highly excited states and shown that it gives the classical microcanonical ensemble.
In the beginning of the 1950's, Wigner introduced a fundamental deformation from the canonical quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator, which is nowadays sometimes called a Wigner quantum oscillator or a parabose oscillator. Also, in quantum mechanics the so-called Wigner distribution is considered to be the closest quantum analogue of the classical probability distribution over the phase space. In this article, we consider which definition for such distribution function could be used in the case of non-canonical quantum mechanics. We then explicitly compute two different expressions for this distribution function for the case of the parabose oscillator. Both expressions turn out to be multiple sums involving (generalized) Laguerre polynomials. Plots then show that the Wigner distribution function for the ground state of the parabose oscillator is similar in behaviour to the Wigner distribution function of the first excited state of the canonical quantum oscillator.
The phase space representation for a q -deformed model of the quantum harmonic oscillator is constructed. We have found explicit expressions for both the Wigner and Husimi distribution functions for the stationary states of the q -oscillator model under consideration. The Wigner function is expressed as a basic hypergeometric series, related to the Al-Salam-Chihara polynomials. It is shown that, in the limit case h → 0 ( q → 1), both the Wigner and Husimi distribution functions reduce correctly to their well-known non-relativistic analogues. Surprisingly, examination of both distribution functions in the q -deformed model shows that, when q ≪ 1, their behaviour in the phase space is similar to the ground state of the ordinary quantum oscillator, but with a displacement towards negative values of the momentum. We have also computed the mean values of the position and momentum using the Wigner function. Unlike the ordinary case, the mean value of the momentum is not zero and it depends on q and n . The ground-state-like behaviour of the distribution functions for excited states in the q -deformed model opens quite new perspectives for further experimental measurements of quantum systems in the phase space.
In this work we study the Wigner functions, which are the quantum analogues of the classical phase space density, and show how a full rigorous semiclassical scheme for all orders of ℏ can be constructed for them without referring to the actual coordinate space wavefunctions from which the Wigner functions are typically calculated. We find such a picture by a careful analysis around the stationary points of the main quantization equation, and apply this approach to the harmonic oscillator solving it for all orders of ℏ.
We define a Wigner distribution function for a one-dimensional finite quantum system, in which the position and momentum operators have a finite (multiplicity-free) spectrum. The distribution function is thus defined on discrete phase-space, i.e. on a finite discrete square grid. These discrete Wigner functions possess a number of properties similar to the Wigner function for a continuous quantum system such as the quantum harmonic oscillator. As an example, we consider the so-called oscillator model in dimension 2 j + 1, which is known to tend to the canonical oscillator when j tends to infinity. In particular, we compare plots of our discrete Wigner functions for the oscillator with the well known plots of Wigner functions for the canonical quantum oscillator. This comparison supports our approach to discrete Wigner functions.
The one-dimensional Wigner quasiprobability function is considered rigorously in the classical limit ($\ensuremath{\hbar}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$). With the implicit $\ensuremath{\hbar}$-dependence of the wave function $\ensuremath{\psi}$ ignored in the integral representation, this limit differs from ${|\ensuremath{\psi}(q)|}^{2}\ensuremath{\delta}(p)$ by terms $\frac{o(\ensuremath{\hbar})}{\ensuremath{\hbar}}$. With the implicit $\ensuremath{\hbar}$ dependence of $\ensuremath{\psi}$ accounted for (as it should be), rigorous asymptotic methods are applied, with the results that: (1) in the "classically allowed" region, the limit is an asymptotic exponential function of qqq, multiplied by an energy-conserving $\ensuremath{\delta}$ function; (2) in the "nonclassically allowed" region, this limit is zero. The stationary-phase approach leads nowhere in this regard. A WKBJ-type solution for the radial Schr\"odinger equation is developed, with rigorous error bounds in the different situations. The Wigner function is computed for an ensemble of one-dimensional harmonic oscillators, and an associated phase-space "density matrix" is constructed therefrom. This is compared with the Slater sum for the ensemble---in general, and in the particular cases of high temperature and of $\ensuremath{\hbar}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$; where $\ensuremath{\hbar}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$, the asymptotic behavior of the Wigner function is explicitly manifest.