It is shown that, in the absence of nodes and under regularity assumptions, a solution in a finite interval of time of the free Schrodinger equation solves a minimization problem, which is a stochastic generalization of the classical optimal transportation problem with quadratic cost.
We discuss the time evolution of the wave function which is the solution of a stochastic Schrödinger equation describing the dynamics of a free quantum particle subject to spontaneous localizations in space. We prove global existence and uniqueness of solutions. We observe that there exist three time regimes: the collapse regime, the classical regime and the diffusive regime. Concerning the latter, we assert that the general solution converges almost surely to a diffusing Gaussian wave function having a finite spread both in position as well as in momentum. This paper corrects and completes earlier works on this issue.
The quantum-mechanical formulation of a class of stochastic optimal control problems is investigated and two versions of non-linear Schrödinger equation are derived. First, a wave-function is introduced which connects the probability density function of a diffusion process with the minimum cost functional of the stochastic optimal control problem associated with the diffusion process. It is then demonstrated that this wave-function satisfies a kind of Schrödinger-Langevin equation in quantum physics. Finally, the probabilistic interpretation of the wave-function is discussed.
We discuss the time evolution of the wave function which is solution of a stochastic Schroedinger equation describing the dynamics of a free quantum particle subject to spontaneous localizations in space. We prove global existence and uniqueness of solutions. Observing that there exist three time regimes, namely the collapse regime, after which the wave function is localized in space; the classical regime, during which the collapsed wave function moves along a classical path and the diffusive regime, in which diffusion overlaps significantly the deterministic motion, we study the long time behavior of the wave function. We assert that the general solution converges a.s. to a diffusing Gaussian wave function having a finite spread both in position as well as in momentum. This paper corrects and completes earlier works on this.
We invert the well-developed strategy of studying dynamics in terms of probability densities and investigate the problem of the most likely microscopic propagation scenario, which is consistent with the given priori (possibly phenomenological) input-output statistics data for the process taking place in a finite-time interval. A solution of this so-called Schr\"odinger problem is known to provide an adequate probabilistic framework for the measure preserving dynamics which is Markovian. We pay particular attention to the subclass of nonstationary solutions, determined by unitary-wave-packet evolution (Schr\"odinger wave mechanics). The existence of the pertinent Markovian diffusion is known on general grounds, but no explicit demonstration (through detailed computational arguments) until now was available even in the simplest cases. We give a definitive probabilistic description of the free quantum dynamics as a stochastic process solving Schr\"odinger's interpolation problem. The Markov diffusion arised as a particular case singled out by a suitable Feynman-Kac semigroup.
Classical transport equations with probabilistic initial conditions can be viewed as quantum systems.
In a discrete version they are probabilistic automata.
The time-local probabilistic information is encoded in a classical wave function.
Its unitary evolution obeys a Schrödinger equation.
Statistical observables measure properties of the classical probability distribution.
In the quantum formalism they are represented by operators which do not commute with the ones associated to classical observables.
Momentum, quantum energy and angular momentum or charges yield conserved quantities which constrain the evolution of the classical probability distribution.
The characteristic features of quantum mechanics, as the superposition of wave functions, interference, the importance of phases, non-commuting operators or a unitary time evolution, are realized by probabilistic classical transport equations.
Stochastic transport equations are described by a quantum system with a stochastic Hamiltonian.
The problem of controlling quantum stochastic evolutions arises naturally in several different fields such as quantum chemistry, quantum information theory, quantum engineering, etc. In this paper, we apply the recently discovered closed form of the unitarity conditions for stochastic evolutions driven by the square of white noise [9] to solve this problem in the case of quadratic cost functionals (cf. (5.5) below). The optimal control is explicitly given in terms of the solution of an operator Riccati equation. Under general conditions on the system Hamiltonian part of the stochastic evolution and on the system observable to be controlled, this equation admits solutions with the required properties and they can be explicitly described.