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The truncated Wigner approximation on discrete phase spaces

Johannes Schachenmayer, Alexander Pikovski, Ana María Rey

Published Aug 19, 2014• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

A phase-space method, suitable to study the many-body spin dynamics in generic spin lattice models is introduced, discussed, and tested. This technique, which we refer to as the dTWA, is based on the discrete sampling of the Wigner function instead of the continuous sampling in traditional Truncated Wigner Approximation (TWA) methods. The power of the method is demonstrated by comparisons with analytical and numerically exact calculations, which show a significant improvement compared to the TWA, e.g. by capturing revivals of spin-observables. The dTWA is demonstrated to not only correctly reproduce dynamics of one-particle observables but also two-point correlations and spin squeezing, a property relying on entanglement. This method thus opens the possibility to study the quantum dynamics in long-range spin models, accessible to recent state-of-the-art experiments, in regimes where other numerical techniques are inapplicable.

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A phase-space method, suitable to study the many-body spin dynamics in generic spin lattice models is introduced, discussed, and tested. This technique, which we refer to as the dTWA, is based on the discrete sampling of the Wigner function instead of the continuous sampling in traditional Truncated Wigner Approximation (TWA) methods. The power of the method is demonstrated by comparisons with analytical and numerically exact calculations, which show a significant improvement compared to the TWA, e.g. by capturing revivals of spin-observables. The dTWA is demonstrated to not only correctly reproduce dynamics of one-particle observables but also two-point correlations and spin squeezing, a property relying on entanglement. This method thus opens the possibility to study the quantum dynamics in long-range spin models, accessible to recent state-of-the-art experiments, in regimes where other numerical techniques are inapplicable.
Abstract Numerical techniques to efficiently model out-of-equilibrium dynamics in interacting quantum many-body systems are key for advancing our capability to harness and understand complex quantum matter. Here we propose a new numerical approach which we refer to as generalized discrete truncated Wigner approximation (GDTWA). It is based on a discrete semi-classical phase space sampling and allows to investigate quantum dynamics in lattice spin systems with arbitrary S ≥ 1/2. We show that the GDTWA can accurately simulate dynamics of large ensembles in arbitrary dimensions. We apply it for S > 1/2 spin-models with dipolar long-range interactions, a scenario arising in recent experiments with magnetic atoms. We show that the method can capture beyond mean-field effects, not only at short times, but it also can correctly reproduce long time quantum-thermalization dynamics. We benchmark the method with exact diagonalization in small systems, with perturbation theory for short times, and with analytical predictions made for models which feature quantum-thermalization at long times. We apply our method to study dynamics in large S > 1/2 spin-models and compute experimentally accessible observables such as Zeeman level populations, contrast of spin coherence, spin squeezing, and entanglement quantified by single-spin Renyi entropies. We reveal that large S systems can feature larger entanglement than corresponding S = 1/2 systems. Our analyses demonstrate that the GDTWA can be a powerful tool for modeling complex spin dynamics in regimes where other state-of-the art numerical methods fail.
We compare the continuous and discrete truncated Wigner approximations - TWA and dTWA, respectively - of various spin models' dynamics to exact analytical and numerical solutions. We account for all components of spin-spin correlations on equal footing, facilitated by a recently introduced geometric correlation matrix visualization (CMV) technique. We find that the two approximations capture different aspects of the dynamics of correlations: dTWA captures periodic partial revivals of spin-spin correlations missed in the TWA; but at least for some conditions, TWA better captures the directions in which spins have correlations. We also find that at modestly short times, the dominant error in both approximations is to substantially suppress spin correlations along one direction. In addition to assessing the accuracy of approximations, our comparisons illustrate the utility of CMVs as an intuitive visual tool to understand the full complexity of spin correlations.
The discrete truncated Wigner approximation (DTWA) is a semiclassical phase-space method useful for the exploration of many-body quantum dynamics. In this work we investigate many-body localization (MBL) and thermalization using DTWA and compare its performance to exact numerical solutions. By taking as a benchmark case a one-dimensional random field Heisenberg spin chain with short-range interactions, and by comparing to numerically exact techniques, we show that DTWA is able to reproduce dynamical signatures that characterize both the thermal and the MBL phases. It exhibits the best quantitative agreement at short times deep in each of the phases and larger mismatches close to the phase transition. The DTWA captures the logarithmic growth of entanglement in the MBL phase, even though a pure classical mean-field analysis would lead to no dynamics at all. Our results suggest the DTWA can become a useful method to investigate MBL and thermalization in experimentally relevant settings intractable with exact numerical techniques, such as systems with long-range interactions and/or systems in higher dimensions.
We review the truncated Wigner approximation (TWA) for spins as a computationally inexpensive numerical approximation method to describe interacting and / or dissipative many-body spin systems. Using the Wigner-Moyal mapping from Hilbert space to a suitable phase space, the many-body density matrix is represented by a c-number distribution, the Wigner function. The gauge freedom in continuous phase space can be exploited to find positive Wigner functions for a large class of spin states, including entangled ones. Employing different sets of correspondence rules, we derive equations of motion for the Wigner function, which, applying controlled approximations, can be mapped to stochastic differential equations. This allows a computationally inexpensive simulation of expectation values. Using a phase-space analog of the quantum regression theorem also multi-time correlations and spectra can be obtained. To illustrate the potential of the method, we benchmark the TWA for spins with some exactly solvable problems of interacting, dissipative spin systems, and then discuss its application to collective processes, such as the superradiant emission of light. Extending the TWA to imaginary time furthermore provides a tool to approximately calculate thermal and ground states of spin Hamiltonians. Finally, we show that the TWA stochastic equations can equivalently be derived within a path-integral approach, provided that the operator products in the dissipator are rigorously mapped onto the curved phase space.
Nonequilibrium dynamics of highly controlled quantum systems is a challenging issue in statistical physics and quantum many-body physics, relevant to recent experimental developments of analog and digital quantum simulations. In this work, we develop a discrete phase-space approach for general SU(N\mathrm{SU}(NSU(N) spin systems that utilizes cluster mean-field equations, which capture nontrivial quantum correlations inside each cluster, beyond the capability of the standard discrete truncated Wigner approximation for individual classical spins. Our formalism, based on a cluster phase-point operator, enables efficient numerical samplings of cluster phase-space variables, where the total number of noise variables for a direct product state is independent of the specific way in which the entire system is divided into multiple equally sized finite clusters. We numerically demonstrate that the cluster discrete truncated Wigner approximation (C-dTWA) method can reproduce key results in a recent experiment on correlation propagation dynamics in a two-dimensional Bose-Hubbard system. We further compare the results of C-dTWA for clusters of $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2$ sites with those from a two-dimensional tensor network method and discuss that both approaches agree very well in the short-time region, where the energy conservation is well maintained in the tensor network simulations. Since we formulate the C-dTWA method in a general form, it has the potential for application to various dynamical problems in isolated and open quantum systems, even in higher dimensions.
We present a systematic approach for the semiclassical treatment of many-body dynamics of interacting, open spin systems. Our approach overcomes some of the shortcomings of the recently developed discrete truncated Wigner approximation (DTWA) based on Monte Carlo sampling in a discrete phase space that improves the classical treatment by accounting for lowest-order quantum fluctuations. We provide a rigorous derivation of the DTWA by embedding it in a continuous phase space, thereby introducing a hybrid discrete-continuous truncated Wigner approximation . We derive a set of operator-differential mappings that yield an exact equation of motion (EOM) for the continuous SU(2) Wigner function of spins. The standard DTWA is then recovered by a systematic neglection of specific terms in this exact EOM. The hybrid approach permits us to determine the validity conditions and to gain a detailed understanding of the quality of the approximation, paving the way for systematic improvements. Furthermore, we show that the continuous embedding allows for a straightforward extension of the method to open spin systems subject to dephasing, losses, and incoherent drive, while preserving the key advantages of the discrete approach, such as a positive definite Wigner distribution of typical initial states. We derive exact stochastic differential equations for processes which cannot be described by the standard DTWA due to the presence of nonclassical noise. We illustrate our approach by applying it to the dissipative dynamics of Rydberg excitation of one-dimensional arrays of laser-driven atoms and compare it to exact results for small systems.