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Physica Scripta

Quantum Dynamics of a Particle in a Fermionic Environment

Per Hedegård, A. O. Caldeira

Published May 1, 1987• 47 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The reduced density operator of a particle coupled to a fermionic environment (metal electrons) is written in terms of a Feynman-Vernon influence functional. Two different approaches are used in order to achieve this goal. Firstly, the environmental interacting electron gas is treated in RPA and the coupling is correctly accounted for up to second order in perturbation theory. Then the local and tight-binding models are studied. For the latter a second approach for obtaining the influence functional is used in the narrow-band limit. It is found that the popular representation of the environment in terms of a single set of harmonic oscillators is not feasible unless the particle is confined to move in a local region of radial extension r ≃ k F -1 .

DOI
10.1088/0031-8949/35/5/001

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Physical Review A•Oct 1, 1987•60 citations
The reduced density operator of a particle coupled to a fermionic environment (metal electrons) is written in terms of a Feynman-Vernon influence functional. Two different approaches are used in order to achieve this goal. Firstly, the environmental interacting electron gas is treated in RPA and the coupling is correctly accounted for up to second order in perturbation theory. Then the local and tight-binding models are studied. For the latter a second approach for obtaining the influence functional is used in the narrow-band limit. It is found that the popular representation of the environment in terms of a single set of harmonic oscillators is not feasible unless the particle is confined to move in a local region of radial extension r ≃ k F -1 .
We study the ground-state properties of a particle moving in a tight-binding band and coupled to a Fermi sea of metal electrons. Using an effective Hamiltonian and a variational ground state, we find a band narrowing of ${W}_{\mathrm{e}\mathrm{f}\mathrm{f}/{W}_{0}\ensuremath{\simeq}}$ (W0{W}_{0}W0​/${\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}_{F}$${)}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}/1\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\alpha}}$, where \ensuremath{\alpha} measures the coupling strength between particle and environment. A renormalization-group analysis gives the same result for \ensuremath{\alpha}<1 and an effective bandwidth Weff=0{W}_{\mathrm{eff}=0}Weff=0​ for \ensuremath{\alpha}>1, indicating a (zero temperature) localization transition.
We present a nonperturbative and formally exact approach for the charge transport in interacting nanojunctions based on a real-time path-integral formulation of the reduced system dynamics. For reservoirs of noninteracting fermions, the exact trace over the leads' degrees of freedom results in the time-nonlocal Feynman-Vernon influence functional, a functional of the Grassmann-valued paths of the nanojunction, which induces correlations among the tunneling transitions in and out of the nanojunction. An expansion of the influence functional in terms of the number of tunneling transitions, and integration of the Grassmann variables between the tunneling times, allows us to obtain a still exact generalized master equation for the populations of the reduced density matrix in the occupation-number representation, as well as a formally exact expression for the current. By borrowing the nomenclature of the famous spin-boson model, we parametrize the two-state dynamics of each single-particle fermionic degree of freedom, in the occupation-number representation, in terms of blips and sojourns. We apply our formalism to the exactly solvable resonant level model (RLM) and to the single-impurity Anderson model (SIAM), the latter being a prototype system for studying strong correlations. For both systems, we demonstrate a hierarchical diagrammatic structure. While the hierarchy closes at the second tier for the RLM, this is not the case for the interacting SIAM. Upon inspection of the current kernel, known results from various perturbative and nonperturbative approximation schemes to quantum transport in the SIAM are recovered. Finally, a noncrossing approximation for the hierarchical kernel is developed, which enables us to systematically decrease temperature at each next level of the approximation. Analytical results for a simplified fourth-tier scheme are presented both in equilibrium and nonequilibrium and with an applied magnetic field.
We study a model for treating dissipative systems, a one dimensional quantum system coupled to a harmonic bath. The dynamics of such a system can be described by Feynman’s path integral expression for the reduced density matrix. In this formulation the interaction of the system with the environment is stored in the influence functional. Recently we showed that fast environmental modes that give rise to correlations in the influence functional which are short range in time can be treated efficiently by a memory equation algorithm, which is a discretized version of a master equation. In this work we extend this approach to treat slow environmental modes as well, thereby efficiently linking adiabatic and nonadiabatic regimes. In this extended method the long range correlations in the influence functional arising from slow bath modes are taken into account through Stock’s semiclassical self-consistent-field approach.
The equation of motion for the reduced Wigner function of a system coupled to an external quantum system is presented for the specific case when the external quantum system can be modeled as a set of harmonic oscillators. The result is derived from the Wigner function formulation of the Feynman-Vernon influence functional theory. It is shown how the true self-energy for the equation of motion is connected with the influence functional for the path integral. Explicit expressions are derived in terms of the bare Wigner propagator. Finally, we show under which approximations the resulting equation of motion reduces to the Wigner-Boltzmann equation.
In many physical situations the behavior of a quantum system is affected by interaction with a larger environment. We develop, using the method of an influence functional, how to deduce the density matrix of the quantum system incorporating the effect of environment. After introducing the characterization of the environment by spectral weight, we first devise schemes to approximate the spectral weight, and then a perturbation method in field theory models, in order to approximately describe the environment. All of these approximate models may be classified as extended Ohmic models of dissipation whose differences are in the high frequency part. The quantum system we deal with in the present work is a general class of harmonic oscillators with an arbitrary time-dependent frequency. The late time behavior of the system is well described by an approximation that employs a localized friction in the dissipative part of the correlation function appearing in the influence functional. The density matrix of the quantum system is then determined in terms of a single classical solution obtained with the time-dependent frequency. With this one can compute the entropy, the energy distribution function, and other physical quantities of the system in a closed form. A specific application is made to the case of a periodically varying frequency. This dynamical system has a remarkable property when the environmental interaction is switched off: The effect of the parametric resonance gives rise to an exponential growth of the populated number in higher excitation levels, or particle production in field theory models. The effect of the environment is investigated for this dynamical system and it is demonstrated that there exists a critical strength of the friction for the parametric effect. In the model of a periodically oscillating field coupled to a system quantum field, it is verified that the parametric effect occurs in medium, with a somewhat diminished rate, if the relaxation time scale of the system field towards thermalization given by the friction term is larger than the time scale of the coherent parametric amplification. The effect persists until the back reaction against the periodic oscillation stops particle production. The resulting energy distribution of produced particles described by a universal function deviates from the thermal one, having an average energy that exponentially increases with time. The dynamical system driven by the parametric oscillator thus maintains and does not lose its quantum nature even in thermal bath. In the present work analytic formulas of how physical quantities behave at late times both in the high and in the low temperature regions are given, along with the results of a numerical computation displaying time evolution.
In this paper the so-called Feynman-Vernon influence functional theory has been generalized in order to include the possibility of dealing with initial conditions of the system plus environment other than the factorizable one. It has been shown that the new influence functional can now be written in terms of paths which represent the coupling of quantum-statistical to quantum-dynamical effects. Once the thermal paths are integrated out of this new influence functional, a generalization of the original Feynman-Vernon expression is obtained.