Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

International Workshop on Computational Electronics

A simple model for the quantum hydrodynamic simulation of electron transport in quantum confined structures in the presence of vortices

J.R. Barker

Published Nov 7, 2002• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have previously shown that the flow in open quantum dots may be described in terms of meandering open orbits which separate regions of trapped flows around vortices. Furthermore the topology of the flow follows from a simple geometrical construction in which the classical ballistic trajectories are first computed and then all crossings are replaced by hyperbolic flow separation and for which all trapped flows form quantised closed orbits. In the present paper we extend this picture to a computational methodology for developing quantum hydrodynamic descriptions of flows in the presence of quantised vortices by extension from classical hydrodynamics. For coherent transport we again encounter the Bohm quantum potential but the singularity structure is predetermined by applying a fictitious repulsion which prevents trajectories and hence streamlines crossing. This leads to vortex producing terms in the hydrodynamic equations. The discussion is completed by including the effects of non-hermitian potentials into the Hamiltonian in order to simulate dissipation and phase breaking flows.

DOI
10.1109/iwce.2000.869935

Related papers

Analysis of electron transport in a two-dimensional structure using quantal trajectories

Tomas Lundberg, Erik Sjöqvist, Karl‐Fredrik Berggren

Ballistic and dissipative electron transport through a two-dimensional geometry is studied in the de Broglie-Bohm quantal trajectory model. The dissipative effect, incorporated to simulate inelastic scattering, is introduced via an imaginary potential term in the Hamiltonian. The relation between the conductance and the local behaviour of the quantal trajectories is discussed. The vortex-like structure of the de Broglie-Bohm trajectories in the vicinity of wavefunction nodes is studied.

Journal of Physics Condensed Matter•Jun 29, 1998•8 citations

Hydrodynamics of quantum vortices on a closed surface

Yanqi Xiong, Xiaoquan Yu

We develop a neutral vortex fluid theory on closed surfaces with zero genus. The theory describes collective dynamics of many well-separated quantum vortices in a superfluid confined on a closed surface. Comparing to the case on a plane, the covariant vortex fluid equation on a curved surface contains an additional term proportional to Gaussian curvature multiplying the circulation quantum. This term describes the coupling between topological defects and curvature in the macroscopic level. For a sphere, the simplest nontrivial stationary vortex flow is obtained analytically and this flow is analogous to the celebrated zonal Rossby-Haurwitz wave in classical fluids on a nonrotating sphere. For this flow the difference between the coarse-grained vortex velocity field and the fluid velocity field generated by vortices is solely driven by curvature and vanishes in the corresponding vortex flow on a plane when the radius of the sphere goes to infinity. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

arXiv:2305.05373•Physical Review Research•Feb 1, 2024•10 citations

Geometry of quantum hydrodynamics in theoretical chemistry

Michael S. Foskett

This thesis investigates geometric approaches to quantum hydrodynamics (QHD) in order to develop applications in theoretical quantum chemistry. Based upon the momentum map geometric structure of QHD and the associated Lie-Poisson and Euler-Poincaré equations, alternative geometric approaches to the classical limit in QHD are presented. These include a new regularised Lagrangian which allows for singular solutions called 'Bohmions' as well as a 'cold fluid' classical closure quantum mixed states. The momentum map approach to QHD is then applied to the nuclear dynamics in a chemistry model known as exact factorization. The geometric treatment extends existing approaches to include unitary electronic evolution in the frame of the nuclear flow, with the resulting dynamics carrying both Euler-Poincaré and Lie-Poisson structures. A new mixed quantum-classical model is then derived by considering a generalised factorisation ansatz at the level of the molecular density matrix. A new alternative geometric formulation of QHD is then constructed. Introducing a $\mathfrak{u}(1)$ connection as the new fundamental variable provides a new method for incorporating holonomy in QHD, which follows from its constant non-zero curvature. The fluid flow is no longer irrotational and carries a non-trivial circulation theorem, allowing for vortex filament solutions. Finally, non-Abelian connections are then considered in quantum mechanics. The dynamics of the spin vector in the Pauli equation allows for the introduction of an $\mathfrak{so}(3)$ connection whilst a more general $\mathfrak{u}(\mathscr{H})$ connection is introduced from the unitary evolution of a quantum system. This is used to provide a new geometric picture for the Berry connection and quantum geometric tensor, whilst relevant applications to quantum chemistry are then considered.

arXiv:2009.13601•Sep 28, 2020•1 citation

Emergence of vorticity and viscous stress in finite-scale quantum hydrodynamics

Christopher Triola

The Madelung equations offer a hydrodynamic description of quantum systems, from single particles to quantum fluids. In this formulation, the probability density is mapped onto the fluid density and the phase is treated as a scalar potential generating the velocity field. As examples of potential flows, quantum fluids described in this way are inherently irrotational, but quantum vortices may arise at discrete points where the phase is undefined. In this paper, starting from this irrotational description of a quantum fluid, a coarse-graining procedure is applied to arrive at a macroscopic description of the quantum fluid in terms of a hierarchy of moments in which the role of velocity is played by a Favre average of the microscopic velocity field. This hierarchy is truncated using an explicit closure derived from an expansion in a finite length scale. The resulting coarse-grained fields are shown to allow for finite vorticity at any point in the fluid. Furthermore, it is shown that this vorticity obeys a similar equation to the vorticity equation in classical hydrodynamics and includes a vortex-stretching term. The particular closure employed here also gives rise to a novel stress term in the fluid equations, which in the appropriate limit appears analogous to an artificial viscous stress from computational fluid dynamics.

arXiv:2508.18200•Physical review. E•Mar 12, 2026•1 citation

Quantum Dissipation in Unbounded Systems

Eric R. Bittner, Jeremy B. Maddox

In recent years trajectory based methodologies have become increasingly popular for evaluating the time evolution of quantum systems. A revival of the de Broglie Bohm interpretation of quantum mechanics has spawned several such techniques for examining quantum dynamics from a hydrodynamic perspective. Using techniques similar to those found in computational fluid dynamics one can construct the wavefunction of a quantum system at any time from the trajectories of a discrete ensemble of hydrodynamic fluid elements (Bohm particles) which evolve according to non-classical equations of motion. Until very recently these schemes have been limited to closed systems. In this paper we present our methodology for including the effects of a thermal environment into the hydrodynamic formulation of quantum dynamics. We derive hydrodynamic equations of motion from the Caldeira-Leggett master equation for the reduced density matrix and give a brief overview of our computational scheme which incorporates an adaptive Lagrangian mesh. Our applications focus upon the dissipative dynamics of open unbounded quantum systems. Using both the Wigner phase space representation and the linear entropy we probe the breakdown of the Markov approximation of the bath dynamics at low temperatures. We suggest a criteria for rationalizing the validity of the Markov approximation in open unbound systems and discuss decoherence, energy relaxation, and quantum/classical correspondence in the context of the Bohmian paths.

•Sep 1, 2001•0 citations

Flux analysis, the correspondence principle, and the structure of quantum phase space

Rex T. Skodje, Henry W. Rohrs, James VanBuskirk

The hydrodynamic analogy for quantum mechanics is developed in a quantum phase-space representation. The key technical step in this development is the formulation of a phase-space flux (or current) density expression. Lagrangian fluid trajectories in phase space are explicitly found as solutions to a set of first-order ordinary differential equations which are formulated without making semiclassical approximation to the quantum dynamics. These fluid trajectories may be used to construct sharp structures in quantum phase space in the same way that one uses classical trajectories in classical mechanics. While these sharp structures do not themselves represent states, their properties ``control'' the dynamics of states in a manner familiar from the theory of first-order flows. The formalism reduces to Liouville dynamics in the classical limit, \ensuremath{\Elzxh}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0. In addition to several analytic applications to the pure- and mixed-state dynamics, the approach is numerically implemented for tunneling dynamics in a double-well problem. A new picture for quantum tunneling emerges where the tunneling transport occurs when density spirals outward from one well along real-valued fluid trajectories and then into the other well. The tunneling is found to occur through localized portals, or ``flux gates'' in the phase space. We advocate the phase-space hydrodynamic model as a general tool to understand classical quantum correspondence.

Physical Review A•Sep 1, 1989•74 citations
We have previously shown that the flow in open quantum dots may be described in terms of meandering open orbits which separate regions of trapped flows around vortices. Furthermore the topology of the flow follows from a simple geometrical construction in which the classical ballistic trajectories are first computed and then all crossings are replaced by hyperbolic flow separation and for which all trapped flows form quantised closed orbits. In the present paper we extend this picture to a computational methodology for developing quantum hydrodynamic descriptions of flows in the presence of quantised vortices by extension from classical hydrodynamics. For coherent transport we again encounter the Bohm quantum potential but the singularity structure is predetermined by applying a fictitious repulsion which prevents trajectories and hence streamlines crossing. This leads to vortex producing terms in the hydrodynamic equations. The discussion is completed by including the effects of non-hermitian potentials into the Hamiltonian in order to simulate dissipation and phase breaking flows.
We develop a neutral vortex fluid theory on closed surfaces with zero genus. The theory describes collective dynamics of many well-separated quantum vortices in a superfluid confined on a closed surface. Comparing to the case on a plane, the covariant vortex fluid equation on a curved surface contains an additional term proportional to Gaussian curvature multiplying the circulation quantum. This term describes the coupling between topological defects and curvature in the macroscopic level. For a sphere, the simplest nontrivial stationary vortex flow is obtained analytically and this flow is analogous to the celebrated zonal Rossby-Haurwitz wave in classical fluids on a nonrotating sphere. For this flow the difference between the coarse-grained vortex velocity field and the fluid velocity field generated by vortices is solely driven by curvature and vanishes in the corresponding vortex flow on a plane when the radius of the sphere goes to infinity. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
This thesis investigates geometric approaches to quantum hydrodynamics (QHD) in order to develop applications in theoretical quantum chemistry. Based upon the momentum map geometric structure of QHD and the associated Lie-Poisson and Euler-Poincaré equations, alternative geometric approaches to the classical limit in QHD are presented. These include a new regularised Lagrangian which allows for singular solutions called 'Bohmions' as well as a 'cold fluid' classical closure quantum mixed states. The momentum map approach to QHD is then applied to the nuclear dynamics in a chemistry model known as exact factorization. The geometric treatment extends existing approaches to include unitary electronic evolution in the frame of the nuclear flow, with the resulting dynamics carrying both Euler-Poincaré and Lie-Poisson structures. A new mixed quantum-classical model is then derived by considering a generalised factorisation ansatz at the level of the molecular density matrix. A new alternative geometric formulation of QHD is then constructed. Introducing a u(1)\mathfrak{u}(1)u(1) connection as the new fundamental variable provides a new method for incorporating holonomy in QHD, which follows from its constant non-zero curvature. The fluid flow is no longer irrotational and carries a non-trivial circulation theorem, allowing for vortex filament solutions. Finally, non-Abelian connections are then considered in quantum mechanics. The dynamics of the spin vector in the Pauli equation allows for the introduction of an so(3)\mathfrak{so}(3)so(3) connection whilst a more general u(H)\mathfrak{u}(\mathscr{H})u(H) connection is introduced from the unitary evolution of a quantum system. This is used to provide a new geometric picture for the Berry connection and quantum geometric tensor, whilst relevant applications to quantum chemistry are then considered.
The Madelung equations offer a hydrodynamic description of quantum systems, from single particles to quantum fluids. In this formulation, the probability density is mapped onto the fluid density and the phase is treated as a scalar potential generating the velocity field. As examples of potential flows, quantum fluids described in this way are inherently irrotational, but quantum vortices may arise at discrete points where the phase is undefined. In this paper, starting from this irrotational description of a quantum fluid, a coarse-graining procedure is applied to arrive at a macroscopic description of the quantum fluid in terms of a hierarchy of moments in which the role of velocity is played by a Favre average of the microscopic velocity field. This hierarchy is truncated using an explicit closure derived from an expansion in a finite length scale. The resulting coarse-grained fields are shown to allow for finite vorticity at any point in the fluid. Furthermore, it is shown that this vorticity obeys a similar equation to the vorticity equation in classical hydrodynamics and includes a vortex-stretching term. The particular closure employed here also gives rise to a novel stress term in the fluid equations, which in the appropriate limit appears analogous to an artificial viscous stress from computational fluid dynamics.
In recent years trajectory based methodologies have become increasingly popular for evaluating the time evolution of quantum systems. A revival of the de Broglie Bohm interpretation of quantum mechanics has spawned several such techniques for examining quantum dynamics from a hydrodynamic perspective. Using techniques similar to those found in computational fluid dynamics one can construct the wavefunction of a quantum system at any time from the trajectories of a discrete ensemble of hydrodynamic fluid elements (Bohm particles) which evolve according to non-classical equations of motion. Until very recently these schemes have been limited to closed systems. In this paper we present our methodology for including the effects of a thermal environment into the hydrodynamic formulation of quantum dynamics. We derive hydrodynamic equations of motion from the Caldeira-Leggett master equation for the reduced density matrix and give a brief overview of our computational scheme which incorporates an adaptive Lagrangian mesh. Our applications focus upon the dissipative dynamics of open unbounded quantum systems. Using both the Wigner phase space representation and the linear entropy we probe the breakdown of the Markov approximation of the bath dynamics at low temperatures. We suggest a criteria for rationalizing the validity of the Markov approximation in open unbound systems and discuss decoherence, energy relaxation, and quantum/classical correspondence in the context of the Bohmian paths.
The hydrodynamic analogy for quantum mechanics is developed in a quantum phase-space representation. The key technical step in this development is the formulation of a phase-space flux (or current) density expression. Lagrangian fluid trajectories in phase space are explicitly found as solutions to a set of first-order ordinary differential equations which are formulated without making semiclassical approximation to the quantum dynamics. These fluid trajectories may be used to construct sharp structures in quantum phase space in the same way that one uses classical trajectories in classical mechanics. While these sharp structures do not themselves represent states, their properties ``control'' the dynamics of states in a manner familiar from the theory of first-order flows. The formalism reduces to Liouville dynamics in the classical limit, \ensuremath{\Elzxh}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0. In addition to several analytic applications to the pure- and mixed-state dynamics, the approach is numerically implemented for tunneling dynamics in a double-well problem. A new picture for quantum tunneling emerges where the tunneling transport occurs when density spirals outward from one well along real-valued fluid trajectories and then into the other well. The tunneling is found to occur through localized portals, or ``flux gates'' in the phase space. We advocate the phase-space hydrodynamic model as a general tool to understand classical quantum correspondence.