The third quantization (3rd Q) for bosons provides the exact steady-state solution of the Lindblad equation with quadratic Hamiltonians. By decomposing the interaction of the Bose-Hubbard model (BHM) according to Hartree approximation, we present a self-consistent formalism for solving the open-system bosonic Lindblad equation with weak interactions in the steady state. The 3rd Q with Hartree approximation takes into account the infinite Fock space of bosons, while its demand of resource scales polynomially with the system size. We examine the method by analyzing three examples of the BHM, including the uniform chain, interaction-induced diode effect, and Su-Schrieffer-Heeger Hubbard model. When compared with the simulations with capped boson numbers for small systems, the 3rd Q with Hartree approximation captures the qualitative behavior and suggests an upper bound of the steady-state value. Finite-size scaling confirms the results from the 3rd Q with Hartree approximation converging towards the thermodynamic limit. Thus, the manageable method allows us to characterize and predict large-system behavior of quantum transport in interacting bosonic systems relevant to cold-atom experiments.
The third quantization (3rd Q) for bosons provides the exact steady-state solution of the Lindblad equation with quadratic Hamiltonians. By decomposing the interaction of the Bose-Hubbard model (BHM) according to Hartree approximation, we present a self-consistent formalism for solving the open-system bosonic Lindblad equation with weak interactions in the steady state. The 3rd Q with Hartree approximation takes into account the infinite Fock space of bosons, while its demand of resource scales polynomially with the system size. We examine the method by analyzing three examples of the BHM, including the uniform chain, interaction-induced diode effect, and Su-Schrieffer-Heeger Hubbard model. When compared with the simulations with capped boson numbers for small systems, the 3rd Q with Hartree approximation captures the qualitative behavior and suggests an upper bound of the steady-state value. Finite-size scaling confirms the results from the 3rd Q with Hartree approximation converging towards the thermodynamic limit. Thus, the manageable method allows us to characterize and predict large-system behavior of quantum transport in interacting bosonic systems relevant to cold-atom experiments.
In this lecture course I outline a simple paradigm of non-eqjuilibrium quantum statistical physics, namely we shall study quantum lattice systems with local, Hamiltonian (conservative) interactions which are coupled to the environment via incoherent processes only at the system's boundaries. This is arguably the simplest nontrivial context where one can study far from equilibrium steady states and their transport properties. We shall formulate the problem in terms of a many-body Markovian master equation (the so-called Lindblad equation, and some of its extensions, e.g. the Redfield eqaution). The lecture course consists of two main parts: Firstly, and most extensively we shall present canonical Liouville-space many-body formalism, the so-called 'third quantization' and show how it can be implemented to solve bi-linear open many-particle problems, the key peradigmatic examples being the XY spin 1/2 chains or quasi-free bosonic (or harmonic) chains. Secondly, we shall outline several recent approaches on how to approach exactly solvable open quantum interacting many-body problems, such as anisotropic Heisenberg ((XXZ) spin chain or fermionic Hubbard chain.
Abstract Open quantum systems that interact with a Markovian environment can be described by a Lindblad master equation. The generator of time-translation is given by a Liouvillian superoperator acting on the density matrix of the system. As the Fock space for a single bosonic mode is already infinite-dimensional, the diagonalization of the Liouvillian has to be done on the creation- and annihilation-superoperators, a process called ‘third quantization’. We propose a method to solve the Liouvillian for quadratic systems using a single symplectic transformation. We show that the non-Hermitian effective Hamiltonian of the system, next to incorporating the dynamics of the system, is a tool to analyze its symmetries. As an example, we use the effective Hamiltonian to formulate a -‘symmetry’ of an open system. We describe how the inclusion of source terms allows us to obtain the cumulant generating function for observables such as the photon current.
The exact solution of a quantum Bethe lattice model in the thermodynamic limit amounts to solve a functional self-consistent equation. In this paper we obtain this equation for the Bose-Hubbard model on the Bethe lattice, under two equivalent forms. The first one, based on a coherent-state path integral, leads in the large connectivity limit to the mean-field treatment of Fisher et al. [Phys. Rev. B 40, 546 (1989)] at the leading order, and to the bosonic dynamical mean field theory as a first correction, as recently derived by Byczuk and Vollhardt [Phys. Rev. B 77, 235106 (2008)]. We obtain an alternative form of the equation using the occupation number representation, which can be easily solved with an arbitrary numerical precision, for any finite connectivity. We thus compute the transition line between the superfluid and Mott insulator phases of the model, along with thermodynamic observables and the space and imaginary-time dependence of correlation functions. The finite connectivity of the Bethe lattice induces a richer physical content with respect to its infinitely connected counterpart: a notion of distance between sites of the lattice is preserved, and the bosons are still weakly mobile in the Mott insulator phase. The Bethe lattice construction can be viewed as an approximation to the finite-dimensional version of the model. We show indeed a quantitatively reasonable agreement between our predictions and the results of Quantum Monte Carlo simulations in two and three dimensions.
This thesis is about the derivation of effective mean field equations and their next-order corrections starting from nonrelativistic many-body quantum theory. Mean field equations provide an approximate ansatz for the description of interacting many-particle systems. In this ansatz the interaction between the particles is replaced by a self-consistent external potential leading to an effective one-body description of the many-particle system. Next-order corrections provide an approximation which goes one step further and tries to capture also subleading effects that are not resolved by the mean field ansatz. We present mathematical proofs for the validity of such effective theories for different models that are motivated, e.g., from the theory of ultracold atoms (the bosonic Hartree equation and the corresponding Bogoliubov theory) and from plasma physics (the motion of a tracer particle through a degenerate and dense electron gas). Starting from a many-body Schrödinger equation, our goal is to show that the solutions converge in a particular limit to the solutions to an effective mean field equation and its next-order corrections. After a short introduction and a summary in Chapter one, we present the main part of this work in three self-contained chapters. In Chapter two we analyze the dynamics of a large number N of nonrelativistic bosons in the weak coupling limit, i.e., for a coupling constant g_N=1/N. It is well known that in the limit of infinite particle number, the Hartree equation emerges as an effective one-particle theory of the Bose gas. This is closely related to the remarkable physical phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation at low temperature, namely that the majority of particles in a Bose gas occupies the same copy of a single one-particle quantum state. Our emphasis lies in the description of the few particles that fluctuate around the Bose-Einstein condensate. We show convergence of the fully interacting dynamics to an auxiliary time evolution in the norm of the N-particle space. This result allows us to prove several other assertions. Among other things, it is used to derive the Hartree equation with optimal speed of convergence 1/N for initial states that are close to ground states of interacting systems and also to prove convergence of the N-particle solution towards a time evolution obtained from the Bogoliubov Hamiltonian on Fock space. Chapter three is about the low energy properties of the weakly interacting homogeneous Bose gas. Here, we derive a novel estimate for low energy eigenfunctions stating that the probability for finding l particles out of their total number N not in the condensate is exponentially small in the number l. Using this bound, we then prove that the ground state wave function of the microscopic model satisfies certain quasifree type properties. The exponential decay is moreover used to provide an alternative proof for the validity of Bogoliubov's approximation for the low-lying energy eigenvalues. Bogoliubov theory states that the excitation energies of the Bose gas are given by excitations of free quasiparticles obeying an effective energy-momentum dispersion relation which is linear for small momentum. The linearity of the effective dispersion relation is an essential ingredient for the explanation of the superfluid character of the Bose gas. In Chapter four we study the time evolution of a single particle coupled through a pair potential to a dense and homogeneous ideal Fermi gas in two spatial dimensions. This type of model is well known in plasma physics where it is used to describe the energy loss of ions moving through a dense and degenerate electron gas. We analyze the model for a coupling parameter g=1 and prove closeness of the time evolution to an effective dynamics for large densities of the gas and for long time scales of the order of some power of the density. The effective dynamics is generated by the free Hamiltonian with a large but constant energy shift. To leading order, this energy shift is given by the spatially homogeneous mean field potential produced by the gas particles, whereas at next-to-leading order, one has to consider an additional correction to the mean field energy which is due to so-called recollision processes.
A Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian, modeling cold bosons in an optical lattice, is used to simulate the dynamics of interacting open quantum systems as subsystems a larger closed system, avoiding complications like the introduction of baths, complex absorbing potentials or absorbing boundaries. The numerically exact unitary dynamics is compared with effective descriptions of the subsystems based on non-Hermitian Hamiltonians or Lindblad master equations. The validity of popular models with constant decay rates is explicitly analyzed for decaying single and double wells. In addition we present a discrete lattice version of the Siegert approximation method for calculating decay rates.
Abstract The dynamics of Markovian open quantum systems are described by Lindblad master equations. For fermionic and bosonic systems that are quasi-free, i.e. with Hamiltonians that are quadratic in the ladder operators and Lindblad operators that are linear in the ladder operators, we derive the equation of motion for the covariance matrix. This determines the evolution of Gaussian initial states and the steady states, which are also Gaussian. Using ladder super-operators (a.k.a. third quantization), we show how the Liouvillian can be transformed to a many-body Jordan normal form which also reveals the full many-body spectrum. Extending previous work by Prosen and Seligman, we treat fermionic and bosonic systems on equal footing with Majorana operators, shorten and complete some derivations, also address the odd-parity sector for fermions, give a criterion for the existence of bosonic steady states, cover non-diagonalizable Liouvillians also for bosons, and include quadratic systems. In extension of the quasi-free open systems, quadratic open systems comprise additional Hermitian Lindblad operators that are quadratic in the ladder operators. While Gaussian states may then evolve into non-Gaussian states, the Liouvillian can still be transformed to a useful block-triangular form, and the equations of motion for k -point Green’s functions form a closed hierarchy. Based on this formalism, results on criticality and dissipative phase transitions in such models are discussed in a companion paper.