Stochastics, Algebra and Analysis in Classical and Quantum Dynamics

Rolando Rebolledo

This work highlights emergent research in the area of quantum probability. Several papers present a qualitative analysis of quantum dynamical semigroups and results on q-deformed oscillator algebras, while others stress the application of classical stochastic processes in quantum modelling.

Luis de la Peña, Ana Marı́a Cetto

V. P. Belavkin

We review the basic concepts of quantum probability and revise the classical and quantum stochastic (QS) calculus using the universal Itô B*-algebra approach. A non-commutative generalization of Lévy process is defined in Fock–Guichardet space in terms of the underlying B*-Itô modular algebra. The main notions and results of classical and QS analysis are reformulated in terms of the non-commutative but associative stochastic covariation of quantum integrals defined as sesquilinear forms adapted to a quantum Lévy process in Fock space. The general semi-Markov QS dynamics is defined in terms of a hemigroup of semi-morphic transformations as adjoints to a semiunitary hemigroup resolving a QS Schrödinger equation in Fock space. The corresponding semi-Markov hemigroup of completely positive contractions resolving a quantum master equation with generalized Lindblad generator as a non-commutative analogue of Feller–Kolmogorov equation is derived by taking vacuum conditional expectation in Fock space.

Chiara Marletto, Vlatko Vedral

We argue for the universality of quantum theory using a dynamical consistency argument, within a specific Hamiltonian setting. We analyse two different types of coupling between simple quantum harmonic oscillators. Each illustrates an aspect of the free and interacting quantum fields and shows the inadequacy of semiclassical models. In particular, we establish that requiring the canonical algebra to be preserved under joint unitary dynamics rules out specific hybrid classical-quantum models. We apply our reasoning to the gravitational field in the linear regime, coupled to the quantised electromagnetic field and, separately, to quantised matter. We conclude with a comparison to DeWitt's analysis of quantum measurement, in which the apparatus, if classical, must be at least stochastic to preserve the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. We also note that stochastic models are inconsistent with the strict version of conservation principles, even if they comply with a probabilistic (on average) conservation.