The idea of wave packet, that clarified many conceptual difficulties, has more recently been revisited to address interferometric and dynamical issues.Present work focuses on the spatio-temporal dynamics of the quantum wave packets in the Fermi-Ulam Accelerator Model.The specific system considered here is a one-dimensional box under periodic oscillations at one boundary. Such a seemingly simple system can be mapped to non-trivial problems like BEC trapped in an oscillating cavity or dynamics of atomic wave packet in different potential in presence or absence of gravitational field.The system is shown to display rich dynamical features including transitions from regular to stochastic and further to chaotic domain in classical phase space. We have obtained the approximated eigen-value solutions of the problem through time dependent Schrodinger’s equation under rescaling transformations that effectively replace moving boundary with a static one. Consequently the running time becomes a nonlinear function of the continuously changing boundary.Based on these solutions, revivals or the resurrection of the original wave packet, in the driven and un-driven Fermi-Ulam model are presented. Such revivals correspond to the constructive interference whereas the wave packet’s collapse owes to destructive interference. Furthermore, interplay of constructive and destructive interferences also readily mimics the fractional revivals.It is further demonstrated that initial position and momentum play a highly crucial role in the emergent revival and fractional revival patterns.It is shown that the symmetries exhibited by such structures in un-driven systems are usually lost under driven conditions and the revival/fractional revival times can only be predicted through a transcendental equation whose solution mainly depends on the strength of the external driving force.In present thesis we have proposed a comprehensive mathematical technique to calculate these hitherto unpredictable times.In addition, a graphical method is also suggested to observe these asymmetric revival/fractional revival times.This apparent asymmetry, do display an overall periodicity over a comparatively long span covering many times of revivals.It is found that whenever the ratio between the period of wall oscillation and quantum revival time `α/β' is a rational number then the revivals time shows a periodicity after β number of revival times over α wall oscillation. Standard tools of autocorrelation and quantum carpets, a consequence of quantum interference, have been employed for visual manifestation of these revivals.These carpets amply demonstrate the explicit asymmetric shifting of revival times for the driven case.These micro changes exhibited in quantum carpet morphologies consequently yield amended phase velocities associated with the canals and ridges in the driven framework.Furthermore, to grasp the quantum phase space dynamics in its entirety, we have also utilized the more sophisticated techniques of the Wigner function and information entropy.It is demonstrated mathematically that revivals not apparent via autocorrelation become prominent in the Wigner phase space description along with the appearance of smooth mini wave packets in the fractional revivals.These interference patterns emerge due to the state vector formed through the linear combination of Gaussians with different positions and momenta having pure Gaussian as well as oscillatory terms. Moreover, the information entropy, like the Wigner function also predicts the revivals when and where they happen.Thus a rich pattern of fractional revivals, including some altogether new ones, are observed through this tool in both driven and un-driven situations.Finally we have elucidated various scenarios including cold atoms in magneto-optical traps where such a system can be experimentally realized along with the suggestions for future work in this specific domain
I compare the quantum and classical dynamics of a particle moving in a cosine potential while subject to a time-dependent force. I concentrate here on the behavior of an initially well-localized wave packet at times before the classically chaotic motion is fully developed. I find that the quantum and classical dynamics are indistinguishable well beyond the Ehrenfest time where the wave packet delocalizes. The quantum and classical descriptions first differ precisely when the classical probability density is folded in the vicinity of a hyperbolic fixed point. At this point, the wave function acquires a nodal structure which I show to be the result of a simple beating phenomenon between paths in the semiclassical propagator. When the interaction of the classical manifold with the hyperbolic fixed point leads to escape from the remnant separatrix, representing the onset of classical chaos, the interference associated with the tendril leads to a long-lived accumulation of quantum amplitude on top of the cosine barrier. This effect also has a semiclassical interpretation, meaning that it arises from the interference between classical paths, but one must expand to second order in Planck's constant to describe the behavior correctly. Both the nodal structure and this pinning of amplitude on the barrier are dynamic mechanisms for the quantum inhibition of mixing. I then couple the system to a bath of harmonic oscillators in order to study the effect of the environment on these mechanisms. Although an oscillator bath environment brings dissipation as well as noise to the problem, the noise effect dominates for the high temperature, weak coupling regime I study. When there is sufficient noise to render the interfering classical paths indistinguishable, I find that the quantum interference gets erased. This dephasing occurs at very early times, long before there is appreciable dissipation of energy to the environment. Consequently, one can argue that the presence of an environment, even if its effect would be negligible in a nonchaotic setting, allows for the possibility of quantum mixing.
We consider the problem of a free particle in a rigid box with one wall fixed and the other oscillating periodically in time. The spectral properties of the evolution operator are calculated. We find that by a tuning of Planck's constant, the statistics of the quasienergy spectrum go continuously from showing Poisson to Gaussian-orthogonal-ensemble-like properties. This change is related to a transition from localized to extended states in energy space. We make the conjecture that recent results of microwave excitations on quasi one-dimensional highly excited hydrogen atoms may be related to this work.
This study discusses the quantum behavior of a particle, which is controlled by fluctuations in the physical space-time (ST) variables, rather than provides a novel interpretation of quantum theory. The fluctuations, i.e., inhomogeneities in a homogeneous phase ST, are prescribed by their probability. They determine the reciprocal space and correlate with the correlation entropy different from zero. Alongside with the minimum entropy, action, and the presence of the Winn-Ehrenfest adiabatic invariant (AI), the fluctuations require the Gilbert information (probabilistic) space linking the physical and the reciprocal ST. Physical quantities in the information space are represented by linear Hermitian operators, which is due to the entropy production in the presence of an AI. Evolution of a quantum system is described by the wave functions having the meaning of information concerning all virtually possible states of a quantum particle. The wave functions are the solutions to the Schrodinger equation and represent a navigation 'roadmap' for the particle to follow. A quantum system is in fact a classical Hamiltonian system in the space of coefficients of the wave function decomposition with respect to the operator eigenfunctions. It is the linearity and the Hermitian nature of the operators which determine the trajectory and the superposition principle in case of the wave behavior of fluctuations. The uncertainty principle, reflects correlation of the fluctuations and, hence, their nonlocality. This study discusses the wave function phase, the Berry phase and its relationship to quantization, discriminability of states and macroscopic quantum effects caused by localization of the particle, followed by a possible entropy change during its transition into a new thermodynamic state.
The dynamics of the harmonic oscillator, with a fluctuating, time-dependent frequency, is studied in the quantum framework. For periodic fluctuations of period \ensuremath{\tau}, it is found that the mean energy diverges exponentially in time, provided \ensuremath{\tau} falls into certain ``bands,'' centered around ``quasiresonant'' values, for which the rate of increase is maximum. In agreement with the correspondence principle, this rate is shown to coincide exactly with the one obtained for the classic oscillator, in the same conditions [Loris Ferrari, Phys. Rev. B 56, 593 (1997)]. The notion of adiabaticity has been revisited in the case of exponentially diverging mean energy. It is found that the Heisenberg form of the Hamiltonian operator can be expressed as a new effective Hamiltonian, which is still harmonic, but has exponentially diverging coefficients. It is argued that the same results hold in general (that is, without any quasiresonance condition) if the frequency fluctuation in time is disordered. A brief discussion is presented about nonharmonic interactions leading to dissipative effects. Applications to real physical systems are outlined, with special reference to the electrons in a uniform and constant magnetic field, to which a small fluctuating component is added.
Bloch oscillation (BO), i.e., the oscillatory motion of a quantum particle in a periodic potential, is one of the most striking effects of coherent quantum transport in matter. In the semiclassical picture, it is well known that BOs can be explained owing to the periodic band structure of the crystal and the so-called acceleration theorem: since in the momentum space the particle wave packet drifts with a constant speed without being distorted, in real space the probability distribution of the particle undergoes a periodic motion following a trajectory which exactly reproduces the shape of the lattice band. In non-Hermitian lattices with a complex (i.e., not real) energy band, extension of the semiclassical model is not intuitive. Here we show that the acceleration theorem holds for non-Hermitian lattices with a complex energy band only on average, and that the periodic wave-packet motion of the particle in real space is described by a trajectory in the complex plane, i.e., it generally corresponds to reshaping and breathing of the wave packet in addition to a transverse oscillatory motion. The concept of BOs involving complex trajectories is exemplified by considering two examples of non-Hermitian lattices with a complex band dispersion relation, including the Hatano-Nelson tight-binding Hamiltonian describing the hopping motion of a quantum particle on a linear lattice with an imaginary vector potential and a tight-binding lattice with imaginary hopping rates.