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Journal of Mathematical Physics

The spectrum of the Liouville–von Neumann operator in the Hilbert–Schmidt space

Ioannis E. Antoniou, Stanislav Shkarin, Z. Suchanecki

Published Aug 1, 1999• 13 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The singular continuous spectrum of the Liouville operator of quantum statistical physics is, in general, properly included in the difference of the spectral values of the singular continuous spectrum of the associated Hamiltonian. The absolutely continuous spectrum of the Liouvillian may arise from a purely singular continuous Hamiltonian. We provide the correct formulas for the spectrum of the Liouville operator and show that the decaying states of the singular continuous subspace of the Hamiltonian do not necessarily contribute to the absolutely continuous subspace of the Liouvillian.

DOI
10.1063/1.532948

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The singular continuous spectrum of the Liouville operator of quantum statistical physics is, in general, properly included in the difference of the spectral values of the singular continuous spectrum of the associated Hamiltonian. The absolutely continuous spectrum of the Liouvillian may arise from a purely singular continuous Hamiltonian. We provide the correct formulas for the spectrum of the Liouville operator and show that the decaying states of the singular continuous subspace of the Hamiltonian do not necessarily contribute to the absolutely continuous subspace of the Liouvillian.
We study in the frame of the superspace of the Hilbert–Schmidt operators the contributions of some complex singularities of the analytic continuation of (Ψ(z)−z)−1 to the diagonal part of the solution of the Liouville–von Neumann equation. Under some conditions, the θ̄ operator of the pseudo-Markovian master equation can be explicitly constructed. It is necessary to specify the diagonal representation and the class of initial conditions having regularity properties. This Hilbertian structure does not allow the construction of a closed subspace which reduces the Liouville–von Neumann operator L, giving an exact irreversible subdynamics; more elaborated mathematical structures are therefore necessary. The above methods are illustrated in the case of the Lee model.
The evolution of mixed states of a closed quantum system is described by a group of evolution superoperators whose infinitesimal generator (the quantum Liouville superoperator, or Liouvillian) determines the mixed-state counterpart of the Schrödinger equation: the Liouville–von Neumann equation. When the state space of the system is infinite-dimensional, the Liouville superoperator is unbounded whenever the corresponding Hamiltonian is. In this paper, we provide a rigorous, pedagogically-oriented, and self-contained introduction to the quantum Liouville formalism in the presence of unbounded operators. We present and discuss a characterization of the domain of the Liouville superoperator originally due to M. Courbage; starting from that, we develop some simpler characterizations of the domain of the Liouvillian and its square. We also provide, with explicit proofs, some domains of essential selfadjointness (cores) of the Liouvillian.
In many cases, measurements are performed on “mixed” ensembles of realizations of a system, which cannot be associated with a single vector in its Hilbert space. In these cases the state of the system is represented by a proper “density operator.” It is instructive to associate density operators with state vectors in a vector space, termed Liouville’s space, where the Schrödinger equation is reformulated as the Liouville–Von Neumann equation. An important consequence of this equation is that the density operator of a system at equilibrium must commute with its Hamiltonian. Namely, the matrix representation of the density operator in the basis of Hamiltonian eigenstates is diagonal, where the diagonal elements are the relative populations of the system’s Hamiltonian eigenstates. The equilibrium populations are revealed by maximizing the (Von Neumann) entropy, subject to given constraints. We derive the equilibrium density operator explicitly for the cases of canonical and grand canonical ensembles.
There are various possibilities in defining Born approximations for the evolution of density matrices. They differ, however, from the ordinary Born approximation for pure states by the fact that they do not, in general, conserve the fundamental properties of physical states. We shall describe these possibilities geometrically in the so-called Liouville space of Hilbert-Schmidt operators and investigate their significance in nonequilibrium dynamics. The results admit of an analogous interpretation in classical statistical mechanics.
We discuss a super bra-ket formalism for quasi-Hermitian Liouvillian operators within the framework of rigged Hilbert spaces (RHS). An RHS in terms of the Liouville space, referred to as a rigged Liouville space (RLS), is reconstructed by exploiting the mathematical fact that the space of Hilbert-Schmidt operators is unitarily equivalent to the tensor product of Hilbert spaces. The obtained RLS endows a rigorous foundation of the construction for the super bra-ket and for the spectral decompositions of both Hermitian and quasi-Hermitian Liouville operators, which are characterized by the generalized eigenvectors in the dual spaces. Furthermore, within this framework, the non-Hermitian Liouvillian operator and its adjoint can be constructed symmetrically, with their symmetric structure preserved. As an application of our RLS methodology, we examine the Liouville operators corresponding to Hermitian and non-Hermitian harmonic oscillators and elucidate the differences between their spectral decomposition forms.