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Dissipation and decoherence in a quantum oscillator

Ambegaokar, V

Published Jun 10, 2005• 11 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

The time development of the reduced density matrix for a quantum oscillator damped by coupling it to an ohmic environment is calculated via an identity of the Debye-Waller form. Results obtained some years ago by Hakim and the author in the free particle limit [1] are thus recovered. The evolution of a free particle in a prepared initial state is examined, and a previously published exchange [2,3] is illuminated with figures showing no decoherence without dissipation. [1] V. Hakim and V. Ambegaokar, Phys. Rev. A 32, 423 (1985). [2] G.W. Ford and R.F. O'Connell, Phys. Rev. A 70, 026102 (2004). [3] D. Gobert, J. von Delft, and V. Ambegaokar, Phys. Rev. A 70, 0261001 (2004).

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The time development of the reduced density matrix for a quantum oscillator damped by coupling it to an ohmic environment is calculated via an identity of the Debye-Waller form. Results obtained some years ago by Hakim and the author in the free particle limit [1] are thus recovered. The evolution of a free particle in a prepared initial state is examined, and a previously published exchange [2,3] is illuminated with figures showing no decoherence without dissipation. [1] V. Hakim and V. Ambegaokar, Phys. Rev. A 32, 423 (1985). [2] G.W. Ford and R.F. O'Connell, Phys. Rev. A 70, 026102 (2004). [3] D. Gobert, J. von Delft, and V. Ambegaokar, Phys. Rev. A 70, 0261001 (2004).
We study the quantum fluctuational properties of a parametric oscillator with and without coupling to an Ohmic environment. After considering the momentum and coordinate variances as a function of initial squeezing for the undamped dynamics, we invoke the functional integral method to derive the fully exact reduced density matrix for parametric dissipative quantum Brownian motion, covering the whole temperature regime from T=0 up to the classical limit at room temperatures. Moreover, we present the exact result for the quantum master equation for both the density matrix and the corresponding Wigner function. The time evolution of the covariance matrix elements of damped quantum fluctuations is studied numerically. These variances undergo within the regime of global stability asymptotic, periodic oscillations. As an interesting result, we find that the minima of these oscillations fall below the corresponding thermal equilibrium values.
We analyze the evolution of a quantum Brownian particle starting from an initial state that contains correlations between this system and its environment. Using a path-integral approach, we obtain a master equation for the reduced density matrix of the system finding relatively simple expressions for its time-dependent coefficients. We examine the evolution of delocalized initial states (Schr\"odinger cats) investigating the effectiveness of the decoherence process. Analytic results are obtained for an Ohmic environment (Drude's model) at zero temperature.
The quantum theory of a damped harmonic oscillator is developed by considering an exactly solvable model, previously discussed by Unruh and Zurek [Phys. Rev. D 40, 1071 (1989)]. A one-dimensional harmonic oscillator is coupled to a scalar field. The field is assumed to be initially in thermal equilibrium. The Heisenberg equations of motion are solved without approximation, and the first and second moments, 〈q(t)〉, 〈p(t)〉, 〈q2{\mathit{q}}^{2}q2(t)〉, 〈p2{\mathit{p}}^{2}p2(t)〉, and 〈q(t)p(t)+p(t)q(t)〉 of the coordinate and momentum of the oscillator are calculated. The high-temperature, zero-temperature, free-particle, and weak-damping limits are discussed. A Wigner function of Gaussian form is constructed. The density-matrix equation derived by Louisell $[---Quantum Statistical Properties of Radiation (Wiley, New York, 1973)] is examined and shown to have a solution in agreement with our weak-damping limit.
The quantum properties of a particle interacting with a dissipative environment are studied. We show the way in which different types of environments reduce quantum effects. The influence of certain environments, like that described by a Caldeira‐Leggett bath of oscillators suppress very efficiently interference processes, while the coupling to other (ohmic) environments does not modify qualitatively the main features of a free particle. Examples of physical realizations of the different environments are also given.
Applying the recently developed semiclassical hybrid dynamics [Grossmann, J. Chem. Phys. 125, 014111 (2006)], we study the decay of interference patterns in the reduced density as well as of the purity in a Morse oscillator test system due to the interaction with a finite harmonic bath at zero temperature. In the case that the bath mimics a continuous Ohmic spectral density, in addition to the quantum classical transition induced by the interaction with the environment, we corroborate the existence of a blueshift due to the bath coupling, predicted by Pollak [Phys. Rev. A 33, 4244 (1986)]. Furthermore, the decoherence dynamics of cat states is confirmed to be faster than that of single coherent states and we show that for a resonant bath the dissipation leads to an increase in the decoherence rate as compared to the low frequency bath.