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Journal of Media Literacy Education

Quantum integrability and nonintegrability of Hamiltonian systems with two degrees of freedom

Vyacheslav V. Stepanov

Published Jan 1, 1999• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The subject of the four manuscripts which make up this dissertation is the concept of integrability in quantum mechanical systems with two degrees of freedom, including the relation between quantum integrability and classical integrability in such systems. In the first manuscript, I consider a two-spin model both classically and quantum mechanically. In the six-dimensional parameter space of this model, classical integrability is satisfied on a five-dimensional hypersurface, and level crossings occur on four-dimensional manifolds that are completely embedded in the integrability hypersurface except for some lower-dimensional sub-manifolds. Under mild assumptions, the classical integrability condition can be reconstructed from a purely quantum mechanical study of level degeneracies in finite-dimensional invariant blocks of the Hamiltonian matrix. In the second manuscript, I analyze the functional dependence [special characters omitted] of the Hamiltonian operator on the action operators for an integrable quantum system, and I compare it with the corresponding functional relationship H (p1, q1; p2, q 2) = HC(J1, J2) in the classical limit of that system. It is demonstrated that the functional dependence is not the same quantum mechanically and (semi-)classically. The former is shown to converge toward the latter in some asymptotic regime associated with the classical limit, but the convergence may be non-uniform. This analysis is carried out for an integrable one- parameter two-spin model. Additional results presented for the (integrable) circular billiard model exhibit similar quantum corrections to the predictions of semiclassical quantization. In the third and the fourth manuscripts, I investigate the relations between symmetry, integrability, and the assignment of quantum numbers to eigenstates for two-spin and spin-boson models. I calculate quantum invariants in the form of expectation values for selected operators and monitor their dependence on the Hamiltonian parameters along loops within, without, and across the integrability region in parameter space. I find clear-cut signatures of integrability and nonintegrability in the observed traces of quantum invariants evaluated in invariant Hilbert subspaces. The results support the notion that quantum integrability depends on the existence of action operators as constituent elements of the Hamiltonian.

DOI
10.23860/diss-4328

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The subject of the four manuscripts which make up this dissertation is the concept of integrability in quantum mechanical systems with two degrees of freedom, including the relation between quantum integrability and classical integrability in such systems. In the first manuscript, I consider a two-spin model both classically and quantum mechanically. In the six-dimensional parameter space of this model, classical integrability is satisfied on a five-dimensional hypersurface, and level crossings occur on four-dimensional manifolds that are completely embedded in the integrability hypersurface except for some lower-dimensional sub-manifolds. Under mild assumptions, the classical integrability condition can be reconstructed from a purely quantum mechanical study of level degeneracies in finite-dimensional invariant blocks of the Hamiltonian matrix. In the second manuscript, I analyze the functional dependence [special characters omitted] of the Hamiltonian operator on the action operators for an integrable quantum system, and I compare it with the corresponding functional relationship H (p1, q1; p2, q 2) = HC(J1, J2) in the classical limit of that system. It is demonstrated that the functional dependence is not the same quantum mechanically and (semi-)classically. The former is shown to converge toward the latter in some asymptotic regime associated with the classical limit, but the convergence may be non-uniform. This analysis is carried out for an integrable one- parameter two-spin model. Additional results presented for the (integrable) circular billiard model exhibit similar quantum corrections to the predictions of semiclassical quantization. In the third and the fourth manuscripts, I investigate the relations between symmetry, integrability, and the assignment of quantum numbers to eigenstates for two-spin and spin-boson models. I calculate quantum invariants in the form of expectation values for selected operators and monitor their dependence on the Hamiltonian parameters along loops within, without, and across the integrability region in parameter space. I find clear-cut signatures of integrability and nonintegrability in the observed traces of quantum invariants evaluated in invariant Hilbert subspaces. The results support the notion that quantum integrability depends on the existence of action operators as constituent elements of the Hamiltonian.
For a (classically) integrable quantum-mechanical system with two degrees of freedom, the functional dependence H=HQ(J1,J2) of the Hamiltonian operator on the action operators is analyzed and compared with the corresponding functional relationship H(p1,q1;p2,q2)=HC(J1,J2) in the classical limit of that system. The former converges toward the latter in some asymptotic regime associated with the classical limit, but the convergence is, in general, nonuniform. The existence of the function H=HQ(J1,J2) in the integrable regime of a parametric quantum system explains empirical results for the dimensionality of manifolds in parameter space on which at least two levels are degenerate. The analysis is carried out for an integrable one-parameter two-spin model. Additional results presented for the (integrable) circular billiard model illuminate the same conclusions from a different angle.
For a two-spin model which is (classically) integrable on a five-dimensional hypersurface in six-dimensional parameter space and for which level degeneracies occur exclusively (with one known exception) on four-dimensional manifolds embedded in the integrability hypersurface, we investigate the relations between symmetry, integrability, and the assignment of quantum numbers to eigenstates. We calculate quantum invariants in the form of expectation values for selected operators and monitor their dependence on the Hamiltonian parameters along loops within, without, and across the integrability hypersurface in parameter space. We find clear-cut signatures of integrability and nonintegrability in the observed traces of quantum invariants evaluated in finite-dimensional invariant Hilbert subspaces. The results support the notion that quantum integrability depends on the existence of action operators as constituent elements of the Hamiltonian.
Does quantum chaos exist?If it exists, what is it?If it does not, what was it supposed to have been?Why should we associate chaos with a "third revolution in physics" if it fails to be expressible in terms of quantum mechanics, our most fundamental theory of physical reality?Is there something wrong with quantum mechanics?Or is chaos merely a mathematical construct relevant only for models in classical mechanics?Is the human mind doomed to interpret and understand quantum mechanics in classical terms?The list of unanswered questions in quantum chaos research itself shows symptoms of the phenomenon it attempts to grasp. 1 How do we recognize classical Hamiltonian chaos?We have dealt with this question in our two previous columns.2,3 In Part I we discussed the implications of integrability and non-integrability for the phase-space trajectories of classical Hamiltonian systems with two degrees of freedom.We described the method of Poincaré surfaces of section as a convenient and striking discriminant between the two possibilities.In Part II we searched for an alternate mode of representation for classical Hamiltonian systems, a mode that is an equally powerful indicator of chaos, but one that can be more directly translated into quantum mechanics than the Poincaré map.We proposed a representation based on the construction of classical invariants via time averages of dynamical variables, a representation that can be employed under very general circumstances including integrable and nonintegrable models.In this column we shall construct quantum invariants, demonstrate the impact of non-integrability on these quantities, and discuss their properties in relation to their classical counterparts.In a future column we intend to introduce quantum Poincaré surfaces of section for stationary states and bring full circle our survey of quantum and classical Hamiltonian chaos.Consider a quantized integrable model.Its eigenstates are labeled by quantum numbers.There are as many quantum numbers as there are degrees of freedom.Each quantum number represents a quantized action.In the still evolving language of quantum chaos, quantum numbers are said to have been "lost" in the transition from a quantum system whose classical counterpart is integrable to one whose counterpart is chaotic.The broken, or lost, tori of classical chaos become lost quantum numbers of quantum chaos.As we shall see, the loss of quantum numbers is vividly mirrored in the behavior of the quantum invariants.We begin by describing the construction of the quantum invariants for a
Constructing a classical mechanical system associated with a given quantum mechanical one, entails construction of a classical phase space and a corresponding Hamiltonian function from the available quantum structures and a notion of coarser observations. The Hilbert space of any quantum mechanical system naturally has the structure of an infinite dimensional symplectic manifold (`quantum phase space'). There is also a systematic, quotienting procedure which imparts a bundle structure to the quantum phase space and extracts a classical phase space as the base space. This works straight forwardly when the Hilbert space carries weakly continuous representation of the Heisenberg group and recovers the linear classical phase space mathbbRmathrm2N\\mathbb{R}^{\\mathrm{2N}}mathbbRmathrm2N. We report on how the procedure also allows extraction of non-linear classical phase spaces and illustrate it for Hilbert spaces being finite dimensional (spin-j systems), infinite dimensional but separable (particle on a circle) and infinite dimensional but non-separable (Bohr quantization). To construct a corresponding classical dynamics, one needs to choose a suitable section and identify an effective Hamiltonian. The effective dynamics mirrors the quantum dynamics provided the section satisfies conditions of semiclassicality and tangentiality. There is also an alternative and a priori distinct notion of effective Hamiltonian used in the context of a WKB approximation. These two notions are compared for the example of loop quantum cosmology.
This dissertation addresses the problem of constructing true degrees of freedom in quantum mechanical systems with constraints. The method developed relies on assuming the behavior of the system of interest is ``nearly classical', or semiclassical, in a precise quantitative sense. The approximation is formulated as a perturbative hierarchy of the expectation values of quantum observables and their non-linear combinations, such as spreads and correlations. We formulate the constraint conditions and additional quantum gauge transformations that arise directly on the aforementioned quantities. We specialize this framework to several situations of particular interest. The first situation considered is the case of a constraint that commutes with all quantum observables, which is appropriate for quantization of a Lie algebra with a single Casimir polynomial. Through explicit order-by order counting argue that the true degrees of freedom are captured correctly at each order of the approximation. The rest of the models considered are motivated by the canonical approach to quantizing general relativity. The homogeneous sector of general relativity splits into classes of models, according to topology, which are described by a finite number of degrees of freedom and can therefore be quantized as quantum mechanical systems, making our construction directly applicable. In the Hamiltonian formulation the dynamics of these systems is governed by the Hamiltonian constraint, which, in the quantum theory, gives rise to several conceptual and technical issues collectively known as the Problem of Time. One of the aspects of this problem that does not possess a general solution is the dynamical interpretation of the theory. We use our construction, truncated at the leading order in quantum corrections, together with the intuition gained from dealing with constrained systems in classical mechanics, to define local notion of dynamics relative to a chosen configuration clock variable. We consider a class of models, where the chosen clock in not globally valid, eventually leading to singular dynamics. Within these models we construct an explicit transformation between dynamical evolution relative to two distinct clocks, thus providing a consistent local dynamical interpretation of the true degrees of freedom of the quantum theory.
It is shown that application of the time-dependent variational principle to trial wave functions of a particular form results in a description of the quantum system as a classical system consisting of two mutually interacting parts: the ordinary classical analog of the quantum system and a (generally finite) number of additional degrees of freedom. This holds out the prospect of simulating quantum dynamics by coupling the corresponding classical system to additional degrees of freedom, and it is pointed out that such calculations have, in effect, already been performed. Since the trial wave functions that qualify for this treatment may be arbitrarily accurate, there is no limitation to the accuracy of the resulting classical description. In a particular case, the canonical coordinates and momenta for all degrees of freedom of the overall classical system are identified and investigated. In general, certain parameters appearing in the trial wave functions treated in this work may become redundant at certain times, leading to singularities in the Hamiltonian equations of motion. It is shown, however, that in certain such cases, a classical formalism for the quantum dynamics remains valid if the Hamiltonian function is suitably modified. Calculations applying the present Hamiltonian formalism are carried out that demonstrate that it has better convergence properties than an alternative, nonvariational, Hamiltonian technique suggested by previous work. These numerical studies also suggest that the observed spreading of wave packets and development of complicated structure in wave functions may be interpreted classically in terms of energy transfer among the various degrees of freedom in the overall classical system.