The dynamics of Gaussian states for systems with Hamiltonians, quadratic in the position and momentum operators, gives rise to the definition of a system of nonlinear coupled differential equations for the density matrix parameters of the system states. In this work, we show that, using the Gaussian-state covariance-matrix evolution, it is possible to solve the system of these nonlinear equations. Some examples of applications of the method developed are given for one- and two-dimensional quadratic-system Gaussian states. It is noted that this formalism can also be used to find new constants of motion related to the covariance matrices of quadratic systems.
In the differential approach elaborated, we study the evolution of the parameters of Gaussian, mixed, continuous variable density matrices, whose dynamics are given by Hermitian Hamiltonians expressed as quadratic forms of the position and momentum operators or quadrature components. Specifically, we obtain in generic form the differential equations for the covariance matrix, the mean values, and the density matrix parameters of a multipartite Gaussian state, unitarily evolving according to a Hamiltonian H ^ . We also present the corresponding differential equations, which describe the nonunitary evolution of the subsystems. The resulting nonlinear equations are used to solve the dynamics of the system instead of the Schrödinger equation. The formalism elaborated allows us to define new specific invariant and quasi-invariant states, as well as states with invariant covariance matrices, i.e., states were only the mean values evolve according to the classical Hamilton equations. By using density matrices in the position and in the tomographic-probability representations, we study examples of these properties. As examples, we present novel invariant states for the two-mode frequency converter and quasi-invariant states for the bipartite parametric amplifier.
The covariance matrix contains the complete information about the second-order expectation values of the mode quadratures (position and momentum operators) of the system. Due to its prominence in studies of continuous variable systems, most significantly Gaussian states, special emphasis is put on time evolution models that result in self-contained equations for the covariance matrix. So far, despite not being explicitly implied by this requirement, virtually all such models assume a so-called quadratic, or second-order case, in which the generator of the evolution is at most second-order in the mode quadratures. Here, we provide an explicit model of covariance matrix evolution of infinite order. Furthermore, we derive the solution, including stationary states, for a large subclass of proposed evolutions. Our findings challenge the contemporary understanding of covariance matrix dynamics and may give rise to new methods and improvements in quantum technologies employing continuous variable systems.
Building upon the work of Hu, Paz, and Zhang [1,2] on open quantum systems we consider the quantum Brownian motion (QBM) model with one oscillator (position variable
x) as the system, {\it nonlinearly} coupled to an environment of
N harmonic oscillators (with mass
mn, natural frequency
ωn, position
qn and momentum
pn variables) in the form
∑n(vn1(x)qnk+vn2(x)pnl) where
k,l are integers (the present work only considers the
k=l=2 cases). The vertex functions $v_{n1}, v_{n2} $ are of the form
vn1=λCn1f(x),vn2(x)=−λCn2mn−2ωn−2f(x) where
Cn1,2 are the coupling constants with the
nth oscillator,
f(x) is any arbitrary function of
x, and
λ is a dimensionless constant. Employing the closed-time-path formalism the influence action
SIF is calculated using a perturbative expansion in
λ. It is possible to identify the terms in
SIF quadratic or higher in
Δ(s)≡f(x+(s))−f(x−(s)) to constitute the noise kernel, while terms linear in
Δ to that of the dissipation kernel. The non-Gaussian noise kernel gives rise to non-zero three-point correlation function of the corresponding stochastic force. The pathway presented here should be useful for the exploration of \textit{non-Gaussian properties of systems nonlinearly coupled with their environments}; examples in early universe cosmology and in quantum optomechanics (QOM) are mentioned. A modified fluctuation-dissipation relation (FDR) is also established, which ensures the consistency of the model and the accuracy of results even at higher perturbative orders. Another result of significance is the derivation of a nonlinear Langevin equation which is expected to be useful for many open quantum system applications.
A self-consistent quadratic theory is presented to account for nonlinear contributions in quantum dynamics. Evolution equations are shown to depend on higher-order gradients of the Hamiltonian, which are incorporated via their equations of motion or through perturbative calculations. The dynamics is proven trace-preserving, with the Hamiltonian acting as a constant of motion for initial Gaussian states. Nonlinear response functions are calculated perturbatively, and sufficient conditions are provided for the existence of their classical limit.
This paper extends the energy-based version of the stochastic linearization method, known for classical nonlinear systems, to open quantum systems with canonically commuting dynamic variables governed by quantum stochastic differential equations with non-quadratic Hamiltonians. The linearization proceeds by approximating the actual Hamiltonian of the quantum system by a quadratic function of its observables which corresponds to the Hamiltonian of a quantum harmonic oscillator. This approximation is carried out in a mean square optimal sense with respect to a Gaussian reference quantum state and leads to a self-consistent linearization procedure where the mean vector and quantum covariance matrix of the system observables evolve in time according to the effective linear dynamics. We demonstrate the proposed Hamiltonian-based Gaussian linearization for the quantum Duffing oscillator whose Hamiltonian is a quadro-quartic polynomial of the momentum and position operators. The results of the paper are applicable to the design of suboptimal controllers and filters for nonlinear quantum systems.
Gaussian states — or, more generally, Gaussian operators — play an important role in Quantum Optics and Quantum Information Science, both in discussions about conceptual issues and in practical applications. We describe, in a tutorial manner, a systematic operator method for first characterizing such states and then investigating their properties. The central numerical quantities are the covariance matrix that specifies the characteristic function of the state, and the closely related matrices associated with Wigner's and Glauber's phase space functions. For pedagogical reasons, we restrict the discussion to one-dimensional and two-dimensional Gaussian states, for which we provide illustrating and instructive examples.