The dynamics of an initially excital Gaussian wave packet (harmonic oscillator coherent state, HOCS) in a general one-dimensional anharmonic system is studied analytically with the aid of a second quantization formalism for times shorter than a classical oscillation period. The initial state population probability PQ(t), its classical counterpart PC(t), and the overlap probability PQC(t) between a time evolved wave packet and a classically moving Gaussian with stationary shape are calculated in order to analyze the spreading of the wave packet. It was found that, in general, PQ(t) and PC(t) agree very well if the potential energy function has no strongly changing low order derivatives. This agreement is held even if the wave packet spreads drastically within the time scale considered as can be demonstrated by analyzing PQC(t). The analytical expressions for PQ(t), PC(t), and PQC(t) are applied to a dissociative third-order oscillator and a strongly anharmonic fourth-order oscillator. While for a harmonic system, the initial decay time of PQ(t) and PC(t) (which are identical in this case) are only dependent on the energy expectation value 〈H〉 with respect to the initial HOCS, differences up to an order of magnitude occur for HOCS with the same energy in the model systems.
The dynamics of an initially excital Gaussian wave packet (harmonic oscillator coherent state, HOCS) in a general one-dimensional anharmonic system is studied analytically with the aid of a second quantization formalism for times shorter than a classical oscillation period. The initial state population probability PQ(t), its classical counterpart PC(t), and the overlap probability PQC(t) between a time evolved wave packet and a classically moving Gaussian with stationary shape are calculated in order to analyze the spreading of the wave packet. It was found that, in general, PQ(t) and PC(t) agree very well if the potential energy function has no strongly changing low order derivatives. This agreement is held even if the wave packet spreads drastically within the time scale considered as can be demonstrated by analyzing PQC(t). The analytical expressions for PQ(t), PC(t), and PQC(t) are applied to a dissociative third-order oscillator and a strongly anharmonic fourth-order oscillator. While for a harmonic system, the initial decay time of PQ(t) and PC(t) (which are identical in this case) are only dependent on the energy expectation value 〈H〉 with respect to the initial HOCS, differences up to an order of magnitude occur for HOCS with the same energy in the model systems.
The time evolution of harmonic oscillator coherent states (HOCS’s) (displaced ground state wave functions) in symmetrical and nonsymmetrical nonharmonic potentials is studied numerically. The potentials were modeled with an ansatz V(ε, q) = (1−ε) VHO+ε VNH, where VHO is the harmonic oscillator potential and VNH is chosen as a convenient Morse oscillator (nonsymmetrical) or as a negative Gaussian (symmetrical) so that the potential near the minimum is not distorted. The initially well located HOCS’s decay within a medium time scale of 5–100 classical oscillations to a wave packet which is delocalized in the position area of the potential well between the classical turning points. The time period up to this delocalization is designed as quasidecay time τQ, and it is demonstrated with some examples that in the symmetrical potentials the HOCS is refocused after a period of τR = 8τQ, while, as a rule, in the nonsymmetrical potential the recurrences need much longer time and could not be observed in the time scale under investigation. It is shown that the absolute values of the quasidecay times cannot be related either to the energy moments 〈H〉 and ΔH nor to the contribution of a quasicontinuum to the initial HOCS but that there is a strong correlation of ΔH and τQ for the nonsymmetrical potential considering only initial wave packets of the same energy.
In this paper, we investigate the quantum dynamics of wave packets of bound states in the nonlinear Henon–Heiles (HH) system. The time evolution of a wave packet was separated into two processes involving (a) the motion of its first moments and (b) its spreading. On the time scale when wave packet spreading can be neglected, we were able to establish relations between wave packet quantum dynamics expressed in terms of the initial-state population probability P(t) and classical trajectory dynamics. We have demonstrated that the initial states, which are characterized by a periodic time evolution of P(t) over many periods, are related to the five elliptic periodic orbits in the HH system. The decay of P(t) over a few vibrational periods is related to the classical features of quasiperiodic trajectories and can be accounted for in terms of overlap reduction effects. When the center of the initial wave packet is moved further away from the classical periodic orbits, P(t) is characterized by a single initial peak followed by a ’’noisy’’ background. There is no qualitative distinction between the ’’short-time’’ behavior of a wave packet initiated in distant integrable regions and in classical stochastic regions. For long times, wave packet spreading effects set in. Quantum mechanical estimates for the spreading time τs, which depends on the initial conditions, were provided. For wave packets initiated on periodic trajectories, τs is very long, becoming shorter as one moves away from the fixed points. The quantum mechanical long time (t≫τs) behavior of P(t) exhibits small-amplitude noisy time dependence for all initial conditions. This behavior may be described as ’’quantum mechanical stochasticity’’ and is related to the universal feature of irregularity of the spectral resolution of all wave packets in a nonlinear system. From this point of view, all wave packets exhibit ’’quantum stochastic behavior,’’ but there are vast quantitative differences for different initial conditions that are manifested in terms of the values of τs and of the average noisy amplitude. It should be emphasized that this ’’quantum stochasticity’’ is not related to classical stochasticity phenomena.
A one-dimensional wave function is assumed whose logarithm is a quadratic form in the configuration variable with time-dependent coefficients. This trial function allows for general time-dependent solutions both of the harmonic oscillator (HO) and the reversed harmonic oscillator (RO). For the HO, apart from the standard coherent states, a further class of solutions is derived with a time-dependent width parameter. The width of the corresponding probability density fluctuates, or "breathes" periodically with the oscillator frequency. In the case of the RO, one also obtains normalized wave packets which, however, show diffusion through exponential broadening with time. At the initial time, the integration constants give rise to complete sets of coherent states in the three cases considered. The results are applicable to the quantum mechanics of the Kepler-Coulomb problem when transformed to the model of a four-dimensional harmonic oscillator with a constraint. In the classical limit, as was shown recently, the wave packets of the RO basis generate the hyperbolic Kepler orbits, and, by means of analytic continuation, the elliptic orbits are also obtained quantum mechanically.
In this Master's thesis, we give a pedagogical introduction to the semiclassical analysis of wave dynamics in single-band and multi-band systems. We show how the semiclassical evolutions of Wigner functions can approximate the dynamics of wave packet centers and wave packet deformations. Three systems of increasing complexity are considered: the quantum harmonic oscillator and the quantum anharmonic oscillator as single-band systems, and the Dirac oscillator as a two-band system. We explain the origins of the first-order semiclassical corrections (Moyal, Littlejohn-Flynn, and Berry) in the equations of motion and examine their effects on predictive accuracy.
Another focus is set on the conditions for validity of the semiclassical analysis. For both the quantum anharmonic and the Dirac oscillators, a dimensionless parameter controlling the accuracy of the approximation is identified. In multi-band systems, the formalism applies only to states within a single adiabatic subspace, which, for the Dirac oscillator, corresponds to an energy branch. This motivates the construction of single-branch almost coherent states: approximately Gaussian wave packets formed by superpositions of states from a single energy branch. Their centers undergo oscillations with an aperiodic envelope. These states enable comparison between semiclassical Wigner function evolution and the commonly used Sundaram-Niu formalism. We show that semiclassical Wigner function evolution captures deformation-related dynamics, including the initial decay of oscillations, which the Sundaram-Niu formalism cannot describe by construction.
Additionally, exact quantum evolution reveals partial relocalization of these single-branch almost coherent states, a phenomenon that cannot be captured by the semiclassical evolution.
The problem investigated refers to periodically driven 1D quantum inverted harmonic oscillator (IHO) with the Hamiltonian of . The model is used widely in huge quantum applications concerned unstable molecular complexes and ions under laser light affection. Non-stationary Schrödinger equation (NSE) was solved analytically and numerically by means of Maple 17 with initial wave function (w.f.) of generalized Gaussian type. This one described the converging 1D probability flux and fitted well the quantum operator of initial conditions (IC). For the IC one can observe, first, the collapse of w.f. packet into extremely narrow 1D space interval of length and, second, its spreading back up to its starting half width, and all that - at dimensionless times. At certain phases j defined by W and s0 the wave packet center displayed nonharmonic oscillating behavior near some slowly drifting space position within this time interval and after that leaved onto infinity while the unlimited packet spreading. And the phases themselves served as bifurcation points separating the NSE solutions with the outgoing to from those with. In “resonant” case of the values obeyed an inverted Fermi-Dirac formula of; for differing the asymptotic of obeyed well classical law.
We investigate the quantum and classical wave packet dynamics in an harmonic oscillator that is perturbed by a disorder potential. This perturbation causes the dispersion of a Gaussian wave packet, which is reflected in the coordinate-space and the momentum-space Shannon entropies, the latter being a measure for the amount of information available on a system. Regarding the sum of the two quantities, one arrives at an entropy that is related to the coordinate-momentum uncertainty. Whereas in the harmonic case, this entropy is strictly periodic and can be evaluated analytically, this behavior is lost if disorder is added. There, at selected times, the quantum mechanical probability density resembles that of a classical oscillator distribution function, and the entropy assumes larger values. However, at later times and dependent on the degree of disorder and the chosen initial conditions, quantum mechanical revivals occur. Then, the observed effects are reversed, and the entropy may decrease close to its initial value. This effect cannot be found classically.