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arXiv:2211.10078 · Communications in Theoretical Physics

Quantum instability and Ehrenfest time for an inverted harmonic oscillator

Shangyun Wang, Songbai Chen, Jiliang Jing

Published Sep 18, 2024• 3 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract We use out-of-time order correlators (OTOCs) to investigate the quantum instability and Ehrenfest time for an inverted harmonic oscillator (IHO). For initial states located in the stable manifolds of the IHO we find that the corresponding OTOC exhibits identical evolutionary characteristics to the saddle point before the Ehrenfest time. For initial states located in the unstable manifolds, the OTOCs still grow exponentially but the time to maintain exponential growth is related to the center position of its wave packet in phase space. Moreover, we use the Husimi Q function to visualize the quantum wave packets during exponential growth of the OTOCs. Our results show that quantum instability exists at arbitrary orbits in the IHO system, and the Ehrenfest time in the IHO system depends not only on the photon number of the initial system but also on the central positions of the initial states in phase space.

DOI
10.1088/1572-9494/ad7c3c

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Abstract We use out-of-time order correlators (OTOCs) to investigate the quantum instability and Ehrenfest time for an inverted harmonic oscillator (IHO). For initial states located in the stable manifolds of the IHO we find that the corresponding OTOC exhibits identical evolutionary characteristics to the saddle point before the Ehrenfest time. For initial states located in the unstable manifolds, the OTOCs still grow exponentially but the time to maintain exponential growth is related to the center position of its wave packet in phase space. Moreover, we use the Husimi Q function to visualize the quantum wave packets during exponential growth of the OTOCs. Our results show that quantum instability exists at arbitrary orbits in the IHO system, and the Ehrenfest time in the IHO system depends not only on the photon number of the initial system but also on the central positions of the initial states in phase space.
A bstract Out-of-time-ordered-correlators (OTOCs) have been suggested as a means to diagnose chaotic behavior in quantum mechanical systems. Recently, it was found that OTOCs display exponential growth for the inverted quantum harmonic oscillator, mirroring the fact that this system is classically and quantum mechanically unstable. In this work, I study OTOCs for the inverted anharmonic (pure quartic) oscillator in quantum mechanics, finding only oscillatory behavior despite the classically unstable nature of the system. For higher temperature, OTOCs seem to exhibit saturation consistent with a value of –2⟨ x 2 ⟩ T ⟨ p 2 ⟩ T at late times. I provide analytic evidence from the spectral zeta-function and the WKB method as well as direct numerical solutions of the Schrödinger equation that the inverted quartic oscillator possesses a real and positive energy eigenspectrum, and normalizable wave-functions.
Out-of-time-ordered-correlators (OTOCs) have been suggested as a means to diagnose chaotic behavior in quantum mechanical systems. Recently, it was found that OTOCs display exponential growth for the inverted quantum harmonic oscillator, mirroring the fact that this system is classically and quantum mechanically unstable. In this work, I study OTOCs for the inverted anharmonic (pure quartic) oscillator in quantum mechanics, finding only oscillatory behavior despite the classically unstable nature of the system. For higher temperature, OTOCs seem to exhibit saturation consistent with a value of −2⟨x2⟩T⟨p2⟩T-2 \langle x^2 \rangle_T \langle p^2 \rangle_T−2⟨x2⟩T​⟨p2⟩T​ at late times. I provide analytic evidence from the spectral zeta-function and the WKB method as well as direct numerical solutions of the Schrödinger equation that the inverted quartic oscillator possesses a real and positive energy eigenspectrum, and normalizable wave-functions.
The commutator [x(t),p][x(t),p][x(t),p] in an inverted harmonic oscillator (IHO) in one-dimensional quantum mechanics exhibits remarkable properties. It reduces to a c-number and does not show any quantum fluctuations for arbitrary states. Related to this nature, the quantum Lyapunov exponent computed through the out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC) ⟨[x(t),p]2⟩⟨[x(t),p{]}^{2}⟩⟨[x(t),p]2⟩ precisely agrees with the classical one. Hence, the OTOC may be regarded as an ideal indicator of the butterfly effect in the IHO. Since IHOs are ubiquitous in physics, these properties of the commutator [x(t),p][x(t),p][x(t),p] and the OTOCs might be seen in various situations, too. In order to clarify this point, as a first step, we investigate OTOCs in one-dimensional quantum mechanics with polynomial potentials, which exhibit butterfly effects around the peak of the potential in classical mechanics. We find two situations in which the OTOCs show exponential growth reproducing the classical Lyapunov exponent of the peak. The first one, which is obvious, is using a suitably localized wave packet near the peak, and the second one is taking a limit akin to the large-NNN limit in the noncritical string theories.
A bstract We provide a detailed examination of a thermal out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC) growing exponentially in time in systems without chaos. The system is a one-dimensional quantum mechanics with a potential whose part is an inverted harmonic oscillator. We numerically observe the exponential growth of the OTOC when the temperature is higher than a certain threshold. The Lyapunov exponent is found to be of the order of the classical Lyapunov exponent generated at the hilltop, and it remains non-vanishing even at high temperature. We adopt various shape of the potential and find these features universal. The study confirms that the exponential growth of the thermal OTOC does not necessarily mean chaos when the potential includes a local maximum. We also provide a bound for the Lyapunov exponent of the thermal OTOC in generic quantum mechanics in one dimension, which is of the same form as the chaos bound obtained by Maldacena, Shenker and Stanford.
The harmonic oscillator is the paragon of physical models; conceptually and computationally simple, yet rich enough to teach us about physics on scales that span classical mechanics to quantum field theory. This multifaceted nature extends also to its inverted counterpart, in which the oscillator frequency is analytically continued to pure imaginary values. In this article we probe the inverted harmonic oscillator (IHO) with recently developed quantum chaos diagnostics such as the out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC) and the circuit complexity. In particular, we study the OTOC for the displacement operator of the IHO with and without a non-Gaussian cubic perturbation to explore genuine and quasi scrambling respectively. In addition, we compute the full quantum Lyapunov spectrum for the inverted oscillator, finding a paired structure among the Lyapunov exponents. We also use the Heisenberg group to compute the complexity for the time evolved displacement operator, which displays chaotic behaviour. Finally, we extended our analysis to N-inverted harmonic oscillators to study the behaviour of complexity at the different timescales encoded in dissipation, scrambling and asymptotic regimes.
The problem investigated refers to periodically driven 1D quantum inverted harmonic oscillator (IHO) with the Hamiltonian of . The model is used widely in huge quantum applications concerned unstable molecular complexes and ions under laser light affection. Non-stationary Schrödinger equation (NSE) was solved analytically and numerically by means of Maple 17 with initial wave function (w.f.) of generalized Gaussian type. This one described the converging 1D probability flux and fitted well the quantum operator of initial conditions (IC). For the IC one can observe, first, the collapse of w.f. packet into extremely narrow 1D space interval of length and, second, its spreading back up to its starting half width, and all that - at dimensionless times. At certain phases j defined by W and s0 the wave packet center displayed nonharmonic oscillating behavior near some slowly drifting space position within this time interval and after that leaved onto infinity while the unlimited packet spreading. And the phases themselves served as bifurcation points separating the NSE solutions with the outgoing to from those with. In “resonant” case of the values obeyed an inverted Fermi-Dirac formula of; for differing the asymptotic of obeyed well classical law.