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Canadian Journal of Physics

The time evolution of quantum systems with discrete energy spectra

A. I. Lupaşcu, I. M. Popescu

Published Nov 1, 1986• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Using the method of matrix functions, we describe the time evolution of quantum systems with discrete energy spectra. The time evolution of the state vectors and expressions for the perturbed eigenfunctions and their associated projectors are obtained for an atom with n discrete levels. The particular cases n = 2 and n = 3 are presented; level crossing and nonexponential decay of coupled states are emphasized.

DOI
10.1139/p86-275

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Using the method of matrix functions, we describe the time evolution of quantum systems with discrete energy spectra. The time evolution of the state vectors and expressions for the perturbed eigenfunctions and their associated projectors are obtained for an atom with n discrete levels. The particular cases n = 2 and n = 3 are presented; level crossing and nonexponential decay of coupled states are emphasized.
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Previous work of the authors on a three-level quantum system is extended to allow the radiation field in interaction with the system to have a continuous spectrum of possible frequencies. The limiting procedure involved in the passage from discrete to continuous spectra is complicated by the need to express sums over different discrete spectra as integrals with well-behaved limits. Exact expressions are found, for a spontaneous emission problem, for the time evolution of the probabilities that the system be in (each) one of its three states and representative calculations of these probabilities are presented. The emergence of irreversible behavior upon constructing the thermodynamic limit of the problem is plainly seen and this demonstration permits for the first time a discussion of the relative effectiveness of competing decay channels in three-level quantum systems without imposing any ad hoc assumptions (such as exponential decay). Rather, the actual form of the decay emerges as a consequence of the structure and parameters of the Hamiltonian defining the model, and hence one can examine the variety of circumstances in which the evolution can reasonably be described as exponential. The results obtained should be of great use in clarifying certain outstanding conceptual problems in radiation physics, particularly those which deal with the universality of exponential decay in three- (and two-) level quantum systems in interaction with a radiation field and the conditions under which nonexponential or even nonergodic behavior can emerge in such dissipative quantum systems.
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We propose a way to understand the evolution of an open quantum system using a description that dispenses a continuous evolution in time, by discrete operators entangled states, in its most direct and fundamental way. We show that the successive application of these operators in very small time intervals reproduce continuous evolution. It describes and compares the temporal evolution of an open quantum system of three levels, for which the Lindblad equation is solved to obtain the density matrix function of time, a method is developed to find Kraus operators time dependent and also finds constant Kraus operators differentials operate computationally $ n $ times evolving in discrete-time $ Δt = τ= t / n $. It is seen in the example of atom cavity inside a reservoir that by calculating the distance and the relative error we define is a relationship with the evolution of discrete steps and physical variables as $ ω$ which presuppose a natural discretization found time.
There exists the well-known approximate expression describing the large time behavior of matrix elements of the evolution operator in quantum theory: < U(t)>≃ exp (at). This expression plays the crucial role in considerations of problems of quantum decoherence, radiation, decay, scattering theory, stochastic limit, derivation of master and kinetic equations etc. This expression was obtained in the Weisskopf–Wigner approximation and in the van Hove (stochastic) limit. We derive the exact general formula which includes the higher order corrections to the above approximate expression: <U(t)>= exp (At+B+C(t)). The constants A and B and the oscillating function C(t) are computed in perturbation theory. The method of perturbation of spectra and renormalized wave operators is used. The formula is valid for a general class of Hamiltonians used in statistical physics and quantum field theory.