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Journal of Physics A Mathematical and General

GeneralizedQ-functions

T B Smith

Published Oct 17, 2006• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The modulus squared of a class of wavefunctions defined on phase space is used to define a generalized family of Q or Husimi functions. A parameter λ specifies orderings in a mapping from the operator |ψ⟩⟨σ| to the corresponding phase space wavefunction, where σ is a given fiducial vector. The choice λ = 0 specifies the Weyl mapping and the Q -function so obtained is the usual one when |σ⟩ is the vacuum state. More generally, any choice of λ in the range (−1, 1) corresponds to orderings varying between standard and anti-standard. For all such orderings the generalized Q -functions are non-negative by construction. They are shown to be proportional to the expectation of the system state with respect to a generalized displaced squeezed state which depends on λ and position ( p , q ) in phase space. Thus, when a system has been prepared in the state , a generalized Q -function is proportional to the probability of finding it in the generalized squeezed state. Any such Q -function can also be written as the smoothing of the Wigner function for the system state by convolution with the Wigner function for the generalized squeezed state.

DOI
10.1088/0305-4470/39/44/009

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The modulus squared of a class of wavefunctions defined on phase space is used to define a generalized family of Q or Husimi functions. A parameter λ specifies orderings in a mapping from the operator |ψ⟩⟨σ| to the corresponding phase space wavefunction, where σ is a given fiducial vector. The choice λ = 0 specifies the Weyl mapping and the Q -function so obtained is the usual one when |σ⟩ is the vacuum state. More generally, any choice of λ in the range (−1, 1) corresponds to orderings varying between standard and anti-standard. For all such orderings the generalized Q -functions are non-negative by construction. They are shown to be proportional to the expectation of the system state with respect to a generalized displaced squeezed state which depends on λ and position ( p , q ) in phase space. Thus, when a system has been prepared in the state , a generalized Q -function is proportional to the probability of finding it in the generalized squeezed state. Any such Q -function can also be written as the smoothing of the Wigner function for the system state by convolution with the Wigner function for the generalized squeezed state.
We introduce a generalized positive-definite operator Δ g (q,p) by smoothing out the Wigner operator Δ w (q,p) and by averaging over the “coarse graining" function. The function is then regarded as the classical Weyl correspondence of the operator Δ g (q,p); in this way we can easily identify a quantum state |Φ〉 such that Δ g (q,p) = |Φ〉 〈Φ|, and |Φ〉 turns out to be a new kind of squeezed coherent state. Correspondingly, the generalized distribution function for any state |Ψ〉 is 〈Ψ|Δ g (q,p)|Ψ〉 = |〈Φ|Ψ〉| 2 , which is obviously positive-definite and is a generalization of the Husimi function.
By shifting the parity operator in phase space, one obtains a class of operators, which we call the Wigner operator, because its expectation value is equal to the Wigner function. Calculating the commutator of Wigner operators with different arguments, we show that the corresponding observables cannot be measured simultaneously. Introducing a new parameter, we give a trace-class generalization of this operator. The displaced number states of the harmonic oscillator constitute the natural eigenstate basis of the corresponding generalized Wigner operator. Establishing the integral representation of this operator we show that its expectation value is proportional to the Q- and P- and Wigner functions at special values of the parameter. We illustrate this connection with the coherent, number and squeezed states of the harmonic oscillator.
A class of positive quantum phase-space distributions based on antinormal ordering of the squeezed-photon annihilation and creation operators is introduced. This class of distributions, referred to as the generalized antinormally ordered distributions, is shown to be generated when the Wigner distribution is smoothed with a squeezed Gaussian wave packet. The distribution function associated with generalized antinormal ordering can thus be identified as the Husimi distribution function. The usefulness of the distributions in studies of the quantum particle dynamics is illustrated with simple examples.
A family quasi-distribution function representation is defined in this article. This family quasi-distribution function representation is constructed from the family wave function of the Schrdinger equation in phase space in which the definitions of the operators are α=αp-i?q and α=(1-α)q+i?p. Two interesting relationships are found. The first one is that the family wave function of the Schrdinger equation in phase space is a “Window” Fourier transform of the function φ(λ)exp［i(1-α)qp/?］. The second one is that different choices of the window functions result in different distribution functions. When the window function g(λ) is a Gaussian function the distribution function is the Husimi-like distribution function. When the window function g(λ) is a plural function representing an ellipse, the quasi-distribution function is the Ellipse distribution function; and finally when the plural function g(λ) is supplemented with the additional condition α=0, it will result in the standard ordering, anti-standard ordering distribution function and Wigner function. In this case g(λ) is a function depieting a rectangular window with width λ and height 1/12π?.
Abstract Phase spaces as given by the Wigner distribution function provide a natural description of infinite-dimensional quantum systems. They are an important tool in quantum optics and have been widely applied in the context of time–frequency analysis and pseudo-differential operators. Phase-space distribution functions are usually specified via integral transformations or convolutions which can be averted and subsumed by (displaced) parity operators proposed in this work. Building on earlier work for Wigner distribution functions (Grossmann in Commun Math Phys 48(3):191–194, 1976. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01617867 ), parity operators give rise to a general class of distribution functions in the form of quantum-mechanical expectation values. This enables us to precisely characterize the mathematical existence of general phase-space distribution functions. We then relate these distribution functions to the so-called Cohen class (Cohen in J Math Phys 7(5):781–786, 1966. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1931206 ) and recover various quantization schemes and distribution functions from the literature. The parity operator approach is also applied to the Born–Jordan distribution which originates from the Born–Jordan quantization (Born and Jordan in Z Phys 34(1):858–888, 1925. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01328531 ). The corresponding parity operator is written as a weighted average of both displacements and squeezing operators, and we determine its generalized spectral decomposition. This leads to an efficient computation of the Born–Jordan parity operator in the number-state basis, and example quantum states reveal unique features of the Born–Jordan distribution.