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Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics

Measurement trajectories of chaotic quantum systems

Martin Schlautmann, R. Graham

Published Jul 1, 1995• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We consider the behavior of a classically chaotic quantum system, the periodically driven pendulum, under the influence of a continuous measurement of its angular momentum. Without measurement the system shows dynamical localization, a quantum interference effect which suppresses the classical chaotic diffusion in momentum space. The coupling of the system to a measuring device destroys its coherence and thus leads to delocalization. This is studied on the level of individual systems including the recording of the measurement results. For that purpose we analyze the appropriate stochastic Schr\"odinger equation, from which a stochastic quantum map is derived as an effective tool for numerical simulation of measurement trajectories. We show that a continuous momentum measurement restores the diffusive behavior of the system in momentum space, but that for sufficiently low accuracy of measurement the corresponding diffusion constant is smaller than the classical one. This is reflected by an equal diffusive growth of the recorded measurement results. Thus we find signatures of the classical chaos and of the dynamical localization both in the behavior of the measured quantum system and in the corresponding signal of the measuring device.

DOI
10.1103/physreve.52.340

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•Jan 1, 2020•0 citations
We consider the behavior of a classically chaotic quantum system, the periodically driven pendulum, under the influence of a continuous measurement of its angular momentum. Without measurement the system shows dynamical localization, a quantum interference effect which suppresses the classical chaotic diffusion in momentum space. The coupling of the system to a measuring device destroys its coherence and thus leads to delocalization. This is studied on the level of individual systems including the recording of the measurement results. For that purpose we analyze the appropriate stochastic Schr"odinger equation, from which a stochastic quantum map is derived as an effective tool for numerical simulation of measurement trajectories. We show that a continuous momentum measurement restores the diffusive behavior of the system in momentum space, but that for sufficiently low accuracy of measurement the corresponding diffusion constant is smaller than the classical one. This is reflected by an equal diffusive growth of the recorded measurement results. Thus we find signatures of the classical chaos and of the dynamical localization both in the behavior of the measured quantum system and in the corresponding signal of the measuring device.
Continuous observation of a quantum system yields a measurement record that faithfully reproduces the classically predicted trajectory provided that the measurement is sufficiently strong to localize the state in phase space but weak enough that quantum backaction noise is negligible. We investigate the conditions under which classical dynamics emerges, via a continuous position measurement, for a particle moving in a harmonic well with its position coupled to internal spin. As a consequence of this coupling, we find that classical dynamics emerges only when the position and spin actions are both large compared to $\ensuremath{\hbar}$. These conditions are quantified by placing bounds on the size of the covariance matrix which describes the delocalized quantum coherence over extended regions of phase space. From this result, it follows that a mixed quantum-classical regime (where one subsystem can be treated classically and the other not) does not exist for a continuously observed spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​ particle. When the conditions for classicality are satisfied (in the large-spin limit), the quantum trajectories reproduce both the classical periodic orbits as well as the classically chaotic phase space regions. As a quantitative test of this convergence, we compute the largest Lyapunov exponent directly from the measured quantum trajectories and show that it agrees with the classical value.
Decoherence in quantum systems which are classically chaotic is studied. The Arnold cat map and the quantum kicked rotor are chosen as examples of linear and nonlinear chaotic systems. The Feynman-Vernon influence functional formalism is used to study the effect of the environment on the system. It is well known that quantum coherence can obliterate chaotic behavior in the corresponding classical system. But interaction with an environment can under general circumstances quickly diminish quantum coherence and reenact classical chaotic behavior. How effectively decoherence works to sustain chaos, and how the resultant behavior qualitatively differs from the quantum picture, depending on the coupling of the system with the environment and the spectral density and temperature of the environment. We show how recurrence in the quantum cat map is lost and classical ergodicity is recovered due to the effect of the environment. Quantum coherence and diffusion suppression are instrumental to dynamical localization for the kicked rotor. We show how environment-induced effects can destroy this localization. Such effects can also be understood as resulting from external noises driving the system. Peculiar to decohering chaotic systems is the apparent transition from reversible to irreversible dynamics. We show such transitions in the quantum cat map and the kicked rotor and distinguish it from apparent irreversibility originating from dynamical instability and imprecise measurements. By performing a time reversal on and following the quantum kicked rotor dynamics numerically, we show how the otherwise reversible quantum dynamics acquires an arrow of time upon the introduction of noise or interaction with an environment.
The quantized standard map (kicked rotor) is coupled to macroscopic systems acting as measuring devices for the probability distribution of the action variable or some of its moments. As a result of such measurements, which are continuous in time but have a limited time resolution, localization of the action variable is destroyed in sufficiently long time scales and replaced by diffusion. The diffusion constant, in general, differs from that of the classical chaotic diffusion and depends on the measurement performed.
A simple model for the coupling of a quantum system to a macroscopic measuring device is proposed, which allows to describe continuous measurements with finite time resolution. It is used to derive a quantum map, generating the dynamics of the quantum kicked rotor under the influence of continuous measurements. Numerical experiments with this quantum map show that the incoherent back-action of the measuring device always destroys dynamical localization on a sufficiently long time scale, and renders the measured dynamics diffusive.
We report a direct observation of dynamical localization. This effect is a quantum suppression of diffusion in a system that is classically chaotic. Our experiment measures the momentum transferred from a modulated standing wave of a near-resonant laser to a sample of ultracold atoms and is a realization of a periodically driven rotor. The conceptual simplicity and experimental control over the time dependent Hamiltonian make this system an ideal testing ground for the predictions of quantum chaos.
This thesis makes a unique contribution to the field of quantum chaos by theoretically demonstrating the effect that measurement has on the emergence of chaos from the quantum world and demonstrating a means to control the onset of chaos in the quantum system using adaptive measurements. Here we investigate how the choice of the continuous measurement strategy for an open quantum system affects the emergence of chaos in the transition from the quantum limit to the classical limit when the system is dissipative. We consider two models in our research. The Duffing oscillator is classically chaotic and also dissipative( ie. an open quantum system), whereas the driven top is classically a closed system; adding dissipation via continuous measurement therefore changes the behaviour in from the classical limit. The first half of this thesis presents the investigation of a dissipative system whose classical limit is chaotic. We explore the emergence of chaos from the open quantum system that is continuously monitored and investigate the dependence on the choice of monitoring by changing a single parameter in a homodyne measurement scheme, effectively changing the information gained by the measurement. We show that the emergence of chaos in the regime where quantum effects are still present can be determined solely by changing the measurement parameter. This is a result of the interplay between the quantum interference effects induced by the nonlinear dynamics and the localisation and decoherence that occurs due to the measurement. We also investigate the case where the classical limit is regular for the Duffing oscillator, and demonstrate the semiclassical effect of chaos induced by the measurement back-action. A certain choice of measurement leads to a noise which drives the system to large spread in the dimensionless position enabling a non-classical transition mechanism that is classically forbidden, inducing chaos in the system. These results are verified by the numerical calculation of the maximal Lyapunov exponent in the quantum regime. The second part of this thesis investigates the possibility of controlling the degree of chaos with quantum control. We design an effective control scheme to control the degree of chaos using the measurement dependency of the state. We propose an adaptive measurement scheme which changes the homodyne measurement angle in real time depending on the direction of the state's interference fringes in phase space. This is done using the knowledge gained by the measurement signal. We show that this control scheme can enhance or suppress chaos. By enhancing the degree of chaos we are also able to push the onset of chaos further into the quantum regime than was possible before. By suppressing chaos we generate highly non-classical states and regular motion. The feasibility of experimentally realising this control technique is discussed in detail. The final section of this thesis considers a chaotic system that is not dissipative in the classical limit: the driven top. We investigate the effect that opening the quantum system to decoherence has on the degree of chaos when we continuously measure the system. We demonstrate that the presence of decoherence suppresses the chaos and alters the dynamics of the quantum system. This is seen to worsen as the strength of the measurement is increased unless a particular measurement is chosen that perfectly cancels out the decoherence resulting in the Hamiltonian evolution in addition to noise from the measurement. These results are verified by the separation time between classical and quantum dynamics.