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Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Criterion for the observability of macroscopic quantum coherence

Anupam Garg

Published Oct 1, 1985• 36 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The phenomenon of macroscopic quantum coherence is examined within the framework of a two-level system coupled to an Ohmic bath. A bound is obtained for the temperature above which the macroscopic variable cannot display the oscillatory behavior characteristic of quantum coherence. Different approximations for the dynamical behavior of the macroscopic variable in the low-dissipation limit are compared.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.32.4746

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The phenomenon of macroscopic quantum coherence is examined within the framework of a two-level system coupled to an Ohmic bath. A bound is obtained for the temperature above which the macroscopic variable cannot display the oscillatory behavior characteristic of quantum coherence. Different approximations for the dynamical behavior of the macroscopic variable in the low-dissipation limit are compared.
This chapter describes the analysis of the effect of dissipation on quantum properties of double-well systems. The simple qualitative observation suggests that interaction with a dissipative bath can significantly alter physical properties of a quantum mechanical particle in a double-well potential. The chapter provides the description of real-time dynamics of the double-well systems in the presence of linear Ohmic dissipation. It shows that dissipation yields total loss of coherence and, hence, real-time dynamics of the system remains incoherent at all times. Drastic simplifications occur if one assumes that the average time the system remains in a state described by the diagonal density matrix strongly exceeds the time it spends in the off-diagonal state. The collective charge variable is canonically conjugate to that of the phase, thus also describing quantum states of a macroscopically large number of electron degrees of freedom.
The quantum dynamics of the dissipative two-level system with nonzero bias and sub-Ohmic bath is studied by means of the perturbation approach based on a unitary transformation. It has been shown that for the sub-Ohmic bath it is necessary to use the non-Markovian approach, especially for the short time behavior of the coupled system and environment. The nonequilibrium correlation P(t)P(t)P(t) has been calculated to show that a finite bias may favor the short time coherence. The spectrum of the susceptibility ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{\ensuremath{''}}(\ensuremath{\omega})$ of the sub-Ohmic case may have a double peak structure in the range of $\ensuremath{\omega}>0$ when the coupling $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ is relatively strong. Besides, the coherence-decoherence transition point ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{c}$ is determined for different $0<s\ensuremath{\le}1$ by the condition of ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{\ensuremath{''}}(\ensuremath{\omega}=0)=\ensuremath{\infty}$ when $\ensuremath{\alpha}={\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{c}$. Finally, we show that Shiba's relation is exactly satisfied in our results.
The dynamical behavior of a two-level system coupled linearly to a dissipative bath of two-level systems whose tunneling splittings and coupling parameters are distributed according to an Ohmic spectrum is studied using numerical path integral methods as well as the noninteracting blip approximation for an equivalent harmonic environment characterized by a scaled spectral density. Comparisons with the behaviors of the conventional spin-boson model of similar coupling strength reveal a weaker quenching of coherence in the present case. Finally, the boundary in parameter space between coherent and incoherent dynamics is mapped.
The dissipative quantum dynamics of a two-level system interacting with a structured reservoir consisting of a damped harmonic mode is investigated by means of the numerically exact path integral Monte Carlo method. This approach provides benchmark results in a broad range of parameter space, in particular, in those domains which are not accessible by approximate methods and alternative numerical schemes, that is, strong coupling between system and harmonic mode and from low to high temperatures. For low temperatures the numerical data are quantitatively in agreement with the noninteracting blip approximation only in the regimes of very weak and very strong coupling. It turns out that the entangled dynamics of the two-level system and the harmonic mode is relatively robust so that its signatures are observable up to relatively strong friction and high temperatures. Nonequilibrium initial preparations of the reservoir with respect to the initial state of the system give rise, for strong interactions, to a stepwise decay of the population, thus displaying coherent dynamics of the bath. The impact of an additional Ohmic bath coupled directly to the two-level system is studied as well, including the case where both reservoirs carry different temperatures.
The quantum dynamics of a two-level system coupled to an Ohmic spin bath is studied by means of the perturbation approach based on a unitary transformation. A scattering function xi(k) is introduced in the transformation to take into account quantum fluctuations. By the master equation within the Born approximation, nonequilibrium dynamics quantities are calculated. The method works well for the coupling constant 0<alpha<alpha(c) and a finite bare tunneling Delta. It is found that (i) only at zero temperature with small coupling or moderate one does the spin-spin-bath model display identical behavior as the well-known spin-boson-bath model; (ii) in comparison with the known results of spin-boson-bath model, the coherence-incoherence transition point, which occurs at alpha(c)=12[1+etaDelta/omega(c)], is temperature independent; and (iii) the nonequilibrium correlation function P(t)=tau(z)(t), evolves without temperature dependence, while tau(x)(t) depends on temperature. Both P(t) and tau(x)(t) not only satisfy their initial conditions, respectively, and also have correct long time limits. Besides, the Shiba relation and sum rule are exactly satisfied in the coherent regime for this method. Our results show that increasing temperature does not help the system suppress decoherence in the coherent regime, i.e., finite temperature does not favor the coherent dynamics in this regime. Thus, the finite-temperature dynamics induced by two kinds of baths (spin-bath and boson-bath) exhibit distinctly different physics.