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Physical Review A

Stochastic path integrals and open quantum systems

Walter T. Strunz

Published Oct 1, 1996• 87 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The general theory of path integral propagators for the solution of linear quantum state diffusion (LQSD) stochastic Schr\"odinger equations describing open quantum systems is developed. Both Hamiltonian and, where possible, Lagrangian path integrals are derived and their connection established. The Hamiltonian version turns out to be more suitable. The results also show how the stochastic terms in the LQSD equation introduce a weight functional under the path integral, thus restricting the set of contributing paths. The center of this weight functional is determined by the stochastic processes governing the LQSD equation. In general, this picture holds in a semiclassical limit only. Some peculiarities of stochastic path integrals are pointed out. We evaluate the stochastic path integral in closed form for soluble models, gaining further insight into the behavior of the solutions of the LQSD equation. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.54.2664

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The general theory of path integral propagators for the solution of linear quantum state diffusion (LQSD) stochastic Schr"odinger equations describing open quantum systems is developed. Both Hamiltonian and, where possible, Lagrangian path integrals are derived and their connection established. The Hamiltonian version turns out to be more suitable. The results also show how the stochastic terms in the LQSD equation introduce a weight functional under the path integral, thus restricting the set of contributing paths. The center of this weight functional is determined by the stochastic processes governing the LQSD equation. In general, this picture holds in a semiclassical limit only. Some peculiarities of stochastic path integrals are pointed out. We evaluate the stochastic path integral in closed form for soluble models, gaining further insight into the behavior of the solutions of the LQSD equation. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
We develop the path integral theory for master equations of general Lindblad form (positive semigroups), describing Markovian open quantum systems. First the Hamiltonian path integral expression for the propagator is derived, which exhibits nicely the decoherence of pairs of phase space histories. A very appealing picture arises in the semiclassical limit where the degree of decoherence is expressible in terms of a phase space decoherence distance functional. For the important class of (effective) Hamiltonians quadratic in the momenta, we derive the Lagrangian version of the path integral propagator. We then evaluate the path integral approximately in a stationary phase approximation, leading to a Van Vleck-type propagator valid under semiclassical conditions. We also derive the propagator for the soluble damped harmonic oscillator in closed form from path integrals. Finally, connections to the active field of stochastic pure-state descriptions of open quantum systems are established, here in particular to linear quantum state diffusion.
We present the non-Markovian generalization of the widely used stochastic Schrodinger equation. Our result allows to describe open quantum systems in terms of stochastic state vectors rather than density operators, without approximation. Moreover, it unifies two recent independent attempts towards a stochastic description of non-Markovian open systems, based on path integrals on the one hand and coherent states on the other. The latter approach utilizes the analytical properties of coherent states and enables a microscopic interpretation of the stochastic states. The alternative first approach is based on the general description of open systems using path integrals as originated by Feynman and Vernon.
We explore the connections between the theories of stochastic analysis and discrete quantum mechanical systems. Naturally these connections include the Feynman-Kac formula, and the Cameron-Martin-Girsanov theorem. More precisely, the notion of the quantum canonical transformation is employed for computing the time propagator, in the case of generic dynamical diffusion coefficients. Explicit computation of the path integral leads to a universal expression for the associated measure regardless of the form of the diffusion coefficient and the drift. This computation also reveals that the drift plays the role of a super potential in the usual super-symmetric quantum mechanics sense. Some simple illustrative examples such as the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process and the multidimensional Black-Scholes model are also discussed. Basic examples of quantum integrable systems such as the quantum discrete non-linear hierarchy (DNLS) and the XXZ spin chain are presented providing specific connections between quantum (integrable) systems and stochastic differential equations (SDEs). The continuum limits of the SDEs for the first two members of the NLS hierarchy turn out to be the stochastic transport and the stochastic heat equations respectively. The quantum Darboux matrix for the discrete NLS is also computed as a defect matrix and the relevant SDEs are derived.
The ensemble-averaged dynamics of open quantum systems are typically irreversible. We show that this irreversibility need not hold at the level of individually monitored quantum trajectories. Our main results are analytical stochastic Schrödinger equations for quantum reverse diffusion, along with corresponding stochastic master equations. These equations describe the exact and approximate stochastic reverse processes for continuously monitored Pauli channels, including time-dependent depolarizing noise. We show that the reverse processes generalize the forward dynamics by combining the noise effects of the forward processes with an additional stochastic drift that dynamically steers a quantum state back to its initial configuration. Consequently, the exact reverse stochastic Schrödinger equations admit closed-form solutions that can be implemented in real-time without the need for variational techniques. Our findings establish an analytical framework for quantum state recovery, noise-resilient quantum gates, quantum generative modelling, quantum tomography via forward-reverse cycles, and potential paradigms for quantum error correction based on reverse diffusion.
The master equation for a linear open quantum system in a general environment is derived using a stochastic approach. This is an alternative derivation to that of Hu, Paz and Zhang, which was based on the direct computation of path integrals, or to that of Halliwell and Yu, based on the evolution of the Wigner function for a linear closed quantum system. We first show by using the influence functinal formalism that the reduced Wigner function for the open system coincides with a distribution function resulting from averaging both over the initial conditions and the stochastic source of a formal Langevin equation. The master equation for the reduced Wigner function can then be deduced as a Fokker-Planck equation obtained from the formal Langevin equation.