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Physical Review A

Theory of quantum resonance: A renormalization-group approach

Marco Frasca

Published Jul 1, 1998• 17 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The standard perturbation theory for time-dependent problems in quantum mechanics is reconsidered through renormalization-group methods. This approach justifies a posteriori the theory of quantum resonance given by the multiple-scale analysis of the perturbation series applied to the coupled equations of wave-function amplitudes. The resonance equations for the leading-order amplitude probabilties are then obtained up to second order and a general method for the algorithmic computation of higher-order terms of the perturbation series is given. The three-level model in a monochromatic wave with two resonant states is discussed in the light of the present results.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.58.771

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The standard perturbation theory for time-dependent problems in quantum mechanics is reconsidered through renormalization-group methods. This approach justifies a posteriori the theory of quantum resonance given by the multiple-scale analysis of the perturbation series applied to the coupled equations of wave-function amplitudes. The resonance equations for the leading-order amplitude probabilties are then obtained up to second order and a general method for the algorithmic computation of higher-order terms of the perturbation series is given. The three-level model in a monochromatic wave with two resonant states is discussed in the light of the present results.
Conventional weak-coupling perturbation theory suffers from problems that arise from the resonant coupling of successive orders in the perturbation series. Multiple-scale perturbation theory avoids such problems by implicitly performing an infinite reordering and resummation of the conventional perturbation series. Multiple-scale analysis provides a good description of the classical anharmonic oscillator. Here, it is extended to study the Heisenberg operator equations of motion for the quantum anharmonic oscillator. The analysis yields a system of nonlinear operator differential equations, which is solved exactly. The solution provides an operator mass renormalization of the theory.
The spontaneous radiative decay to the ground state of an atomic system initially in the higher of two excited states, coupled in a radiationless fashion by an external field, is investigated by the method of multiple-time-scale perturbation theory. The coupled differential equations of motion for the probability amplitudes are solved to second order, while the usual secular behavior of conventional time-dependent perturbation theory is eliminated in terms of two natural time scales: a fast time scale corresponding to the reciprocal of the level transition frequency and a slower time scale associated with the inverse of the radiation linewidth. Expressions are obtained to this order for the energy shifts and decay characteristics of the excited states and the energy distribution of the final-state photons, quantities previously determined by Fourier analysis and contour integration and by the phenomenological approach of Weisskopf and Wigner. A detailed comparison of these various methods of solution includes conditions under which the present results agree to second order with the previous calculations.
Abstract These introductory notes are about functional renormalization group equations and some of their applications. It is emphasised that the applicability of this method extends well beyond critical systems, it actually provides us a general purpose algorithm to solve strongly coupled quantum field theories. The renormalization group equation of F. Wegner and A. Houghton is shown to resum the loop-expansion. Another version, due to J. Polchinski, is obtained by the method of collective coordinates and can be used for the resummation of the perturbation series. The genuinely non-perturbative evolution equation is obtained by a manner reminiscent of the Schwinger-Dyson equations. Two variants of this scheme are presented where the scale which determines the order of the successive elimination of the modes is extracted from external and internal spaces. The renormalization of composite operators is discussed briefly as an alternative way to arrive at the renormalization group equation. The scaling laws and fixed points are considered from local and global points of view. Instability induced renormalization and new scaling laws are shown to occur in the symmetry broken phase of the scaler theory. The flattening of the effective potential of a compact variable is demonstrated in case of the sine-Gordon model. Finally, a manifestly gauge invariant evolution equation is given for QED.
We present a full introduction to the recent devised perturbation theory for strong coupling in quantum mechanics. In order to put the theory in a proper historical perspective, the approach devised in quantum field theory is rapidly presented, showing how it implies a kind of duality in perturbation theory, from the start. The approach of renormalization group in perturbation theory is then presented. This method permits to resum secularities in perturbation theory and makes fully algorithmical the resummation, transforming the perturbation calculations in a step by step computational procedure. The general theorem on which is founded a proper application of the strong coupling expansion, based on a result in the quantum adiabatic theory, is then exposed. This theorem gives the leading order of a strong coupling expansion. Then, after the introduction of the principle of duality in perturbation theory that puts in a proper context the quantum field theory method, the resulting theory of the strong coupling expansion and the free picture are presented. An algorithm for the computation of the perturbation series is finally given. This approach has a lot of applications in fields as quantum optics, condensed matter and so on, extending the original expectations of the quantum field theory method. So, we give some examples of application for a class of two-level systems that, in recent years, proved to be extremely important. One of the most interesting concepts that can be obtained in this way is that of a Quantum Amplifier (QAMP) that permits to obtain an amplification to the classical level of the quantum fluctuations of the ground state of a single radiation mode.
Modern computers have made possible the evaluation of higher order terms of perturbation series. Apart from the empirical work involving numerical calculations, much formal mathematical work has been done on the convergence properties of perturbation series and of Pade approximants which represent them. Some of the modern work in perturbation theory is reviewed in the context of traditional results from the theory of real and complex variables. The two major versions of time-independent perturbation theory, the Rayleigh-Schrodinger (RS) and Brillouin-Wigner (BW) theories, are compared and contrasted, and the alternative techniques for evaluating the terms in the energy series are discussed. The sum-over-states method, the differential equation method and the variational principle method are treated, with emphasis on their inter-relations.
Time-dependent perturbation theory in quantum mechanics is divergent at long times when the perturbation induces a resonance between two eigenstates of the unperturbed Hamiltonian. Divergences in perturbation theory are also common in quantum field theory and in critical phenomena. The renormalization group (RG) was designed to deal with these divergences. In the last two decades, this procedure has been extended to dynamical systems where the perturbation theory diverges in the long-time limit. In this article, we first review the connection between RG in the context of field theory and RG in the context of dynamical systems. We then show that the long-time divergence in the resonant situation in the time-dependent perturbation theory in quantum mechanics can be removed by using a RG-aided calculational scheme.