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Journal of Physics A Mathematical and General

Time evolution of the Wigner function in discrete quantum phase space for a soluble quasi-spin model

D. Galetti, M. Ruzzi

Published Mar 31, 2000• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The discrete phase space approach to quantum mechanics of degrees of freedom without classical counterparts is applied to the many-fermions/quasi-spin Lipkin model. The Wigner function is written for some chosen states associated to discrete angle and angular momentum variables, and the time evolution is numerically calculated using the discrete von Neumann-Liouville equation. Direct evidences in the time evolution of the Wigner function are extracted that identify a tunnelling effect. A connection with a SU (2)-based semiclassical continuous approach to the Lipkin model is also presented.

DOI
10.1088/0305-4470/33/14/313

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The discrete phase space approach to quantum mechanics of degrees of freedom without classical counterparts is applied to the many-fermions/quasi-spin Lipkin model. The Wigner function is written for some chosen states associated to discrete angle and angular momentum variables, and the time evolution is numerically calculated using the discrete von Neumann-Liouville equation. Direct evidences in the time evolution of the Wigner function are extracted that identify a tunnelling effect. A connection with a SU (2)-based semiclassical continuous approach to the Lipkin model is also presented.
We show how quasiprobability distribution functions defined over N2{N}^{2}N2-dimensional discrete phase spaces can be used to treat physical systems described by a finite space of states which exhibit spin-tunneling effects. This particular approach is then applied to the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model in order to obtain the time evolution of the discrete Husimi function, and as a by-product the energy gap for a symmetric combination of ground and first excited states. Moreover, we also show how an angle-based potential approach can be efficiently employed to explain qualitatively certain features of the energy gap in terms of a spin tunneling. Entropy functionals are also discussed in this context. Such results reinforce not only the formalism per se but also the possibility of some future potential applications in other branches of physics.
The action-angle representation in quantum mechanics is conceptually quite different from its classical counterpart and motivates a canonical discretization of the phase space. In this work, a discrete and finite-dimensional phase space formalism, in which the phase space variables are discrete and the time is continuous, is developed and the fundamental properties of the discrete Weyl-Wigner-Moyal quantization are derived. The action-angle Wigner function is shown to exist in the semi-discrete limit of this quantization scheme. A comparison with other formalisms which are not explicitly based on canonical discretization is made. Fundamental properties that an action-angle phase space distribution respects are derived. The dynamical properties of the action-angle Wigner function are analysed for discrete and finite-dimensional model Hamiltonians. The limit of the discrete and finite-dimensional formalism including a discrete analogue of the Gaussian wavefunction spread, viz. the binomial wavepacket, is examined and shown by examples that standard (continuum) quantum mechanical results can be obtained as the dimension of the discrete phase space is extended to infinity.
We develop a path integral representation for the dynamics of quantum systems with a finite-dimensional Hilbert space, formulated entirely within a discrete phase space. Starting from the discrete Wigner function on Zd×Zd{\mathbb{Z}_d} \times {\mathbb{Z}_d}Zd​×Zd​ (ddd an odd prime) and the associated Weyl transform built from generalized displacement operators, we derive an exact kernel that propagates the discrete Wigner function in time and, by iterating its composition law through a short-time approximation, obtain a sum-over-paths expression weighted by a discrete phase-space action -- the natural finite-dimensional counterpart of Marinov's functional. For Hamiltonians linear in the phase-space coordinates and at times strictly commensurate with the lattice, the fluctuation sum collapses to a deterministic shift, realizing the discrete analog of classical Hamiltonian flow. Applying the formalism to one and to two interacting qutrits (d=3d=3d=3), we show that the full entanglement dynamics -- captured by a closed-form linear entropy valid for all times -- requires the coherent contribution of all fluctuation sectors; the boundary-term (mean-field) sector alone fails to reproduce it. For a non-stabilizer Hamiltonian, where the short-time kernel is only approximate, the time-sliced path integral converges to the exact dynamics, including the dynamical generation of Wigner negativity. We discuss implications for the semiclassical simulation of many-body spin systems and for the characterization of non-classicality through Wigner negativity.
Wigner quantum mechanics is reformulated in a discrete momentum space and analyzed within a Monte Carlo approach for solving integral equations and thus associated with a particle picture. General quantum phenomena may thereby be modeled in terms of quasi-particles involving attributes such as drift, generation, sign, and annihilation on a phase space grid. The model is examined in an ultimate regime, where classical and quantum dynamics become equivalent. The peculiarities of the transport in this asymptotic regime are analyzed within simulations, benchmarking the behavior of the Wigner function.
A model for the evolution of a quantum particle in the phase plane is derived. The quasi-distribution function is decomposed into a suitable over-complete basis of coherent states. In this approach, a coarse grain length scale is introduced by using the spread of the coherent states. The obtained evolution system is completely equivalent to the Wigner formulation of the quantum mechanics. It shows some analogy with the von Neumann approach and the particle in the cell method in classical plasma physics. Differing from the usual formulation of the quantum phase space, given in terms of infinite-order partial differential equations, in this model, the evolution equations of the second differential order are expressed by a hierarchy of coupled functions (the first term being the Husimi function). The resulting formulation reveals itself to be particularly close to the classical description of the particles motion. This formal analogy is useful to gain new physical insights and to profit from numerical methods developed for classical systems.
We perform a systematic study of the discrete time Quantum Walk on one dimension using Wigner functions, which are generalized to include the chirality (or coin) degree of freedom. In particular, we analyze the evolution of the negative volume in phase space, as a function of time, for different initial states. This negativity can be used to quantify the degree of departure of the system from a classical state. We also relate this quantity to the entanglement between the coin and walker subspaces.