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Journal of Physics Conference Series

Master equation approach for non-Hermitian quadratic Hamiltonians: Original and phase space formulations

Ludmiła Praxmeyer, Konstantin G. Zloshchastiev

Published Apr 1, 2019• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We consider evolution of dynamical systems described by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, using the density operator approach.The latter is formulated both at the level of the Hilbert space and the phase space, and adapted for applications to open quantum systems.We illustrate the formalism using a family of non-Hermitian system, which generators are quadratic with respect to both momentum and position.Despite the initial simplicity of a Hamiltonian, the structure of its solutions and spectral characteristics are nontrivial, and they can drastically change depending on parameters of the model and its symmetry in phase space.We present analytical solutions in L 2 (R) and in phase space, and an explicit form of the similarity transformation changing these generators into the corresponding normal operators.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/1194/1/012090

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We consider evolution of dynamical systems described by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, using the density operator approach.The latter is formulated both at the level of the Hilbert space and the phase space, and adapted for applications to open quantum systems.We illustrate the formalism using a family of non-Hermitian system, which generators are quadratic with respect to both momentum and position.Despite the initial simplicity of a Hamiltonian, the structure of its solutions and spectral characteristics are nontrivial, and they can drastically change depending on parameters of the model and its symmetry in phase space.We present analytical solutions in L 2 (R) and in phase space, and an explicit form of the similarity transformation changing these generators into the corresponding normal operators.
Despite acute interest in the dynamics of non-Hermitian systems, there is a lack of consensus in the mathematical formulation of non-Hermitian quantum mechanics in the community. Different methodologies are used in the literature to study non-Hermitian dynamics. This ranges from consistent frameworks like biorthogonal quantum mechanics and metric approach characterized by modified inner products, to normalization by time-dependent norms inspired by open quantum systems. In this work, we systematically explore the similarities and differences among these various methods. Utilizing illustrative models with exact solutions, we demonstrate that these methods produce not only quantitatively different results but also distinct physical interpretations. For dissipative systems where non-Hermiticity arises as an approximation, we find that simply dividing by the norm in the PT -broken regime closely aligns with the full master equation solutions. In contrast, for quantum systems where non-Hermiticity can be engineered exactly, incorporating metric dynamics is crucial for the probabilistic interpretation of quantum mechanics, necessitating the generalizations of similarity transformations and unitarity to non-Hermitian systems. This study lays the groundwork for further exploration of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, potentially leveraging generalized transformations for novel physical phenomena.
Hagedorn wave packets form an orthonormal basis of the L2-functions and are known solutions of the semiclassical Schrödinger equation with quadratic Hamiltonians. In this thesis we analyse their structure, in particular the polynomial part, their connection to the Hermite functions and their representation in phase space. Based on these findings we utilise them to investigate the time evolution generated by the Schrödinger equation with a non-Hermitian, quadratic Hamiltonian. Operators of this type appear for example in the context of diffusion models and absorbing potentials and are thus of interest in physics and chemistry. We provide explicit formulas for the propagated wave packets and thereby show that the non-unitary evolution activates lower excited states. At last we apply our results to the Lindblad master equation with quadratic internal Hamiltonian and linear Lindblad terms.
A bstract The construction of exactly-solvable models has recently been advanced by considering integrable TT‾ T\overline{T} TT T T ¯ deformations and related Hamiltonian deformations in quantum mechanics. We introduce a broader class of non-Hermitian Hamiltonian deformations in a nonrelativistic setting, to account for the description of a large class of open quantum systems, which includes, e.g., arbitrary Markovian evolutions conditioned to the absence of quantum jumps. We relate the time evolution operator and the time-evolving density matrix in the undeformed and deformed theories in terms of integral transforms with a specific kernel. Non-Hermitian Hamiltonian deformations naturally arise in the description of energy diffusion that emerges in quantum systems from time-keeping errors in a real clock used to track time evolution. We show that the latter can be related to an inverse TT‾ T\overline{T} TT T T ¯ deformation with a purely imaginary deformation parameter. In this case, the integral transforms take a particularly simple form when the initial state is a coherent Gibbs state or a thermofield double state, as we illustrate by characterizing the purity, Rényi entropies, logarithmic negativity, and the spectral form factor. As the dissipative evolution of a quantum system can be conveniently described in Liouville space, we further study the spectral properties of the Liouvillians, i.e., the dynamical generators associated with the deformed theories. As an application, we discuss the interplay between decoherence and quantum chaos in non-Hermitian deformations of random matrix Hamiltonians and the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model.
The Wigner–Weyl transform and phase space formulation of a density matrix approach are applied to a non-Hermitian model which is quadratic in positions and momenta. We show that in the presence of a quantum environment or reservoir, mean lifetime and decay constants of quantum systems do not necessarily take arbitrary values, but could become functions of energy eigenvalues and have a discrete spectrum. It is demonstrated also that a constraint upon mean lifetime and energy appears, which is used to derive the resonance conditions at which long-lived states occur. The latter indicate that quantum dissipative effects do not always lead to decay but, under certain conditions, can support stability of a system.
In this thesis, we study semiclassical phase-space methods for quantum evolution in Hermitian and non-Hermitian systems. We first present the dynamics of Gaussian wave packets under non-Hermitian Hamiltonians and interpret them as a classical dynamics for complex Hamiltonians. We use these to derive exact dynamics for wave packets in the quadratic Swanson oscillator. We show that in the case of unbroken PT-symmetry there can be periodic divergences in this system and relate this to the fact that any operator mapping the system to a Hermitian counterpart is unbounded. We apply the semiclassical wave-packet dynamics to two further anharmonic example systems: a PT-symmetric wave guide, a version of which we propose as a filtering device for optical beams, and a non-Hermitian single-band tight-binding model, for which we use classical equations of motion to model both narrowly and widely distributed initial states. We further develop an exact quantum propagator for non-Hermitian dynamics using lattices of wave packets, whose evolution is governed by the semiclassical equations of motion. We demonstrate that this accurately reproduces quantum dynamics compared to the split operator method. Finally we study a Hermitian two-mode many-particle model for bosonic atom-molecule conversion, for which the classical phase-space structure is an orbifold. We show that standard semiclassical tools may be applied to recover features such as the dynamics, spectrum and density of states of the many-particle system.
This thesis is centred around the role of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians in Physics both at the quantum and classical levels. In our investigations of two-level models we demonstrate [1] the phenomenon of fast transitions developed in the PT -symmetric quantum brachistochrone problem may in fact be attributed to the non-Hermiticity of evolution operator used, rather than to its invariance under PT operation. Transition probabilities are calculated for Hamiltonians which explicitly violate PT -symmetry. When it comes to Hilbert spaces of infinite dimension, starting with non-Hermitian Hamiltonians expressed as linear and quadratic combinations of the generators of the su(1; 1) Lie algebra, we construct [2] Hermitian partners in the same similarity class. Alongside, metrics with respect to which the original Hamiltonians are Hermitian are also constructed, allowing to assign meaning to a large class of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians possessing real spectra. The finding of exact results to establish the physical acceptability of other non-Hermitian models may be pursued by other means, especially if the system of interest cannot be expressed in terms of Lie algebraic elements. We also employ [3] a representation of the canonical commutation relations for position and momentum operators in terms of real-valued functions and a noncommutative product rule of differential form. Besides exact solutions, we also compute in a perturbative fashion metrics and isospectral partners for systems of physical interest. Classically, our efforts were concentrated on integrable models presenting PT - symmetry. Because the latter can also establish the reality of energies in classical systems described by Hamiltonian functions, we search for new families of nonlinear differential equations for which the presence of hidden symmetries allows one to assemble exact solutions. We use [4] the Painleve test to check whether deformations of integrable systems preserve integrability. Moreover we compare [5] integrable deformed models, which are thus likely to possess soliton solutions, to a broader class of systems presenting compacton solutions. Finally we study [6] the pole structure of certain real valued nonlinear integrable systems and establish that they behave as interacting particles whose motion can be extended to the complex plane in a PT -symmetric way.