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arXiv:2105.05646

Classical and Quantum Brownian Motion

Roumen Tsekov

Published Jan 1, 2021• 2 citations

Abstract

In the frames of classical mechanics the generalized Langevin equation is derived for an arbitrary mechanical subsystem coupled to the harmonic bath of a solid. A time-acting temperature operator is introduced for the quantum Klein-Kramers and Smoluchowski equations, accounting for the effect of the quantum thermal bath oscillators. The model of Brownian emitters is theoretically studied and the relevant evolutionary equations for the probability density are derived. The Schrodinger equation is explained via collisions of the target point particles with the quantum force carriers, transmitting the fundamental interactions between the point particles. Thus, electrons and other point particles are no waves and the wavy chapter of quantum mechanics originated for the force carriers. A stochastic Lorentz-Langevin equation is proposed to describe the underlaying Brownian-like motion of the point particles in quantum mechanics. Considering the Brownian dynamics in the frames of the Bohmian mechanics, the density functional Bohm-Langevin equation is proposed, and the relevant Smoluchowski-Bohm equation is derived. A nonlinear master equation is proposed by proper quantization of the classical Klein-Kramers equation. Its equilibrium solution in the exact canonical Gibbs density operator, while the well-known Caldeira-Leggett equation is simply a linearization at high temperature. In the case of a free quantum Brownian particles, a new law for the spreading of the wave packet it discovered, which represents the quantum generalization of the classical Einstein law of Brownian motion. A new projector operator is proposed for the collapse of the wave function of a quantum particle moving in a classical environment. Its application results in dissipative Schrodinger equations, as well as in a new form of dissipative Liouville equation in classical mechanics.

DOI: 10.13140/rg.2.2.14157.15840/1

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In the frames of classical mechanics the generalized Langevin equation is derived for an arbitrary mechanical subsystem coupled to the harmonic bath of a solid. A time-acting temperature operator is introduced for the quantum Klein-Kramers and Smoluchowski equations, accounting for the effect of the quantum thermal bath oscillators. The model of Brownian emitters is theoretically studied and the relevant evolutionary equations for the probability density are derived. The Schrodinger equation is explained via collisions of the target point particles with the quantum force carriers, transmitting the fundamental interactions between the point particles. Thus, electrons and other point particles are no waves and the wavy chapter of quantum mechanics originated for the force carriers. A stochastic Lorentz-Langevin equation is proposed to describe the underlaying Brownian-like motion of the point particles in quantum mechanics. Considering the Brownian dynamics in the frames of the Bohmian mechanics, the density functional Bohm-Langevin equation is proposed, and the relevant Smoluchowski-Bohm equation is derived. A nonlinear master equation is proposed by proper quantization of the classical Klein-Kramers equation. Its equilibrium solution in the exact canonical Gibbs density operator, while the well-known Caldeira-Leggett equation is simply a linearization at high temperature. In the case of a free quantum Brownian particles, a new law for the spreading of the wave packet it discovered, which represents the quantum generalization of the classical Einstein law of Brownian motion. A new projector operator is proposed for the collapse of the wave function of a quantum particle moving in a classical environment. Its application results in dissipative Schrodinger equations, as well as in a new form of dissipative Liouville equation in classical mechanics.

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Abstract We propose a Langevin equation to describe the quantum Brownian motion of bounded particles based on a distinctive formulation concerning both the fluctuation and dissipation forces. The fluctuation force is similar to that employed in the classical case. It is a white noise with a variance proportional to the temperature. The dissipation force is not restricted to be proportional to the velocity and is determined in a way as to guarantee that the stationary state is given by a density operator of the Gibbs canonical type. To this end we derived an equation that gives the time evolution of the density operator, which turns out to be a quantum Fokker–Planck–Kramers equation. The approach is applied to the harmonic oscillator in which case the dissipation force is found to be non Hermitian and proportional to the velocity and position.

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We give a new description of quantum Brownian motion in terms of stochastic pure states. The corresponding path integral propagator allows us to establish a direct connection to the classical Langevin equation, in the Schrodinger picture. We show that in the quantum domain, one is naturally led to consider two stochastic processes driving the Brownian dynamics, one of them representing thermal fluctuations, as in the classical case. The second process reflects growing entanglement between the Brownian particle and its environment, and is therefore a truly quantum noise process. Technically, our result rests on the representation of the full propagator of the Brownian particle and its environment in a coherent state basis. For open system dynamics that may be described by a master equation, such stochastic schemes have already been proven to be efficient Monte Carlo methods. Here, we give a new stochastic scheme that covers low temperatures and strong friction, the latter limit being the case Einstein originally investigated.

We have presented a simple approach to quantum theory of Brownian motion and barrier crossing dynamics. Based on an initial coherent state representation of bath oscillators and an equilibrium canonical distribution of quantum-mechanical mean values of their co-ordinates and momenta we have derived a c number generalized quantum Langevin equation. The approach allows us to implement the method of classical non-Markovian Brownian motion to realize an exact generalized non-Markovian quantum Kramers' equation. The equation is valid for arbitrary temperature and friction. We have solved this equation in the spatial diffusion-limited regime to derive quantum Kramers' rate of barrier crossing and analyze its variation as a function of the temperature and friction. While almost all the earlier theories rest on quasiprobability distribution functions (e.g., Wigner function) and path integral methods, the present work is based on true probability distribution functions and is independent of path integral techniques. The theory is a natural extension of the classical theory to quantum domain and provides a unified description of thermally activated processes and tunneling.

where m is the particle mass at rest, c is the speed of light, p is the particle momentum and U is a potential. The root in Eq. (1) complicates substantially the way of quantizing the relativistic motion. In the literature there are two important solutions of this problem: the Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations. Their complex mathematical structures and some problems with definition of the probability density make it difficult to extend these equations for description of relativistic quantum Brownian motion. Moreover, it is not clear if the non-relativistic energy ˆ t E i   and momentum p i   operators, used in quantizing of Eq. (1), are valid in the relativistic quantum mechanics as well. The present paper proposes an alternative approach via a relativistic Wigner-Klein-Kramers equation. The quantum Brownian motion is described by the Madelung quantum hydrodynamics [4] coupled to the Breit-Fermi Hamiltonian. According to the relativistic dynamics the stochastic Langevin equation for a classical relativistic particle moving in a classical non-relativistic environment acquires the form