Generalised Weyl Operators

Max Joseph Fahn, Renata Ferrero, Kristina Giesel +1 more

We generalise the quantum mechanical toy model for gravitationally induced decoherence presented in Xu, Blencowe (2022) and Domi et al. (2024). In contrast to earlier formulations, in which the Hamiltonian of the system of interest is linearly coupled to the position operators of the oscillators in the environment, we consider an interaction formulated in terms of Weyl elements of the environment's position operators. This extension is motivated by polymer quantum mechanics, in which Weyl elements are fundamental operators, as well as by the possibility of generating non-linear interactions through suitable truncations of the exponential Weyl elements. Here we focus on a sinus-like coupling that is still quantised using the Schrödinger representation and, in the limit of a small Weyl parameter, reproduces the conventional linear interaction. To derive the corresponding master equation, we developed two complementary methods for the analytical calculation of the environmental correlation functions. The first utilises Wick's theorem for thermal expectation values in conjunction with annihilation and creation operators, while the second is based on the short-time Fourier transform and completely avoids the use of annihilation and creation operators, making it more readily transferable and generalisable to a polymer quantisation. Both approaches yield identical results. We further generalise the spectral density required for the exponential coupling structure. A numerical analysis shows that the environmental correlation functions decay rapidly with time, which supports the validity of the Markov approximation. Using a Taylor expansion in the Weyl parameter, we show that the first-order term reproduces the decoherence model of Xu, Blencowe (2022) and Domi et al. (2024). Finally, we derive the solution to the renormalised master equation.

S. Agyo

The displacement operator is related to the displaced parity operator through a two dimensional \nFourier transform. Both operators are important operators in phase space \nand the trace of both with respect to the density operator gives the Wigner functions \n(displaced parity operator) and Weyl functions (displacement operator). The generalisation \nof the parity-displacement operator relationship considered here is called \nthe bi-fractional displacement operator, O(α, β; θα, θβ). Additionally, the bi-fractional \ndisplacement operators lead to the novel concept of bi-fractional coherent states. \nThe generalisation from Fourier transform to fractional Fourier transform can be \napplied to other phase space functions. The case of the Wigner-Weyl function is considered \nand a generalisation is given, which is called the bi-fractional Wigner functions, \nH(α, β; θα, θβ). Furthermore, the Q−function and P−function are also generalised to \ngive the bi-fractional Q−functions and bi-fractional P−functions respectively. The \ngeneralisation is likewise applied to the Moyal star product and Berezin formalism for \nproducts of non-commutating operators. These are called the bi-fractional Moyal star \nproduct and bi-fractional Berezin formalism. \nFinally, analysis, applications and implications of these bi-fractional transforms \nto the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, photon statistics and future applications are \ndiscussed.

Leon W. Cohen

Thomas Durt

When the state of a quantum system belongs to a N-dimensional Hilbert space, with N the power of a prime number, it is possible to associate to the system a finite field (Galois field) with N elements. In this paper, we introduce generalized Bell states that can be intrinsically expressed in terms of the field operations. These Bell states are in one to one correspondence with the N2elements of the generalised Pauli group or Heisenberg-Weyl group. This group consists of discrete displacement operators and provides a discrete realisation of the Weyl function. Thanks to the properties of generalised Bell states and of quadratic extensions of finite fields, we derive a particular solution for the Mean King's problem. This solution is in turn shown to be in one to one correspondence with a set of N2self-adjoint operators that provides a discrete realisation of the Wigner quasi-distribution.