Perturbation Theory and Scaling in Quantum Mechanics and Field Theory.

Jayanta K. Bhattacharjee, Deb Shankar Ray

Time-dependent perturbation theory in quantum mechanics is divergent at long times when the perturbation induces a resonance between two eigenstates of the unperturbed Hamiltonian. Divergences in perturbation theory are also common in quantum field theory and in critical phenomena. The renormalization group (RG) was designed to deal with these divergences. In the last two decades, this procedure has been extended to dynamical systems where the perturbation theory diverges in the long-time limit. In this article, we first review the connection between RG in the context of field theory and RG in the context of dynamical systems. We then show that the long-time divergence in the resonant situation in the time-dependent perturbation theory in quantum mechanics can be removed by using a RG-aided calculational scheme.

Marco Frasca

We present a full introduction to the recent devised perturbation theory for strong coupling in quantum mechanics. In order to put the theory in a proper historical perspective, the approach devised in quantum field theory is rapidly presented, showing how it implies a kind of duality in perturbation theory, from the start. The approach of renormalization group in perturbation theory is then presented. This method permits to resum secularities in perturbation theory and makes fully algorithmical the resummation, transforming the perturbation calculations in a step by step computational procedure. The general theorem on which is founded a proper application of the strong coupling expansion, based on a result in the quantum adiabatic theory, is then exposed. This theorem gives the leading order of a strong coupling expansion. Then, after the introduction of the principle of duality in perturbation theory that puts in a proper context the quantum field theory method, the resulting theory of the strong coupling expansion and the free picture are presented. An algorithm for the computation of the perturbation series is finally given. This approach has a lot of applications in fields as quantum optics, condensed matter and so on, extending the original expectations of the quantum field theory method. So, we give some examples of application for a class of two-level systems that, in recent years, proved to be extremely important. One of the most interesting concepts that can be obtained in this way is that of a Quantum Amplifier (QAMP) that permits to obtain an amplification to the classical level of the quantum fluctuations of the ground state of a single radiation mode.

Luigi E. Picasso, L. Bracci, Emilio d’Emilio

M. J. Gourlay, T. Uzer, David Farrelly

Rydberg atoms in external electric and magnetic fields have recently emerged as atomic-scale laboratories where the quantum mechanics of classically nonintegrable systems can be studied. In this article we show, using classical canonical perturbation theory, how the intricate nonlinear dynamics of a Rydberg electron in crossed electric and magnetic fields can be described in terms of two coupled asymmetric tops.

S. M. McRae