From Microscopic to Macroscopic Quantum Theory

L. A. Lugiato, Marlan O. Scully, HERBERT WALTHER

We show that the steady-state photon-number distribution of the microscopic maser can be recovered using the standard macroscopic quantum laser theory. We introduce an appropriate limit of weak pump and weak photon damping to make the connection between the microscopic and the macroscopic quantum theory of laser operation. Simple analytic formulas describe the main features of the stationary photon-number distribution in the microscopic maser.

A. J. Leggett

Anthony J. Leggett

Vlasta Peřinová, A. Lukš

Origin of Macroscopic Approach.- Macroscopic Theories and Their Applications.- Microscopic Theories.- Microscopic Models as Related to Macroscopic Descriptions.- Periodic and Disordered Media.- Conclusions.

Takao Tati

A physical picture of macroscopic and microscopic worlds is presented. In the space-time description, both the macroscopic and microscopic worlds are described simultaneously in space-time being a single boundless four dimensional continuum in which the motion of the observer is represented as a world line. In our picture, the space-time description is valid only for the macroscopic world and the microscopic world is local in the sense that it is described in a finite space associated with each point of the macroscopic space-time. In this case, space-time does not exist in the microscopic world in which the observer can not move. For the description of our picture, the language of the non-space-time description is necessary in which space-time is not presupposed. We can utilize the space-time description for the macroscopic world and, at the same time, we have a theory of finite degree of freedom describing creations and annihilations of elementary particles in the microscopic world free from the divergence difficulty, instead of the divergent quantum field theory in the space-time description which is considered in our picture a limit of an approximation like the ideal gas in gas theories. The finite degree of freedom is given by a one-particle state-vector space of a finite dimension from which the second quantization leads to a state-vector space of a countable dimension (a Hilbert space) for the theory of creations and annihilations of elementary particles describing a local microscopic world. The relation between microscopic worlds associated with different macroscopic space-time points is given by a dynamical principle up to a phase factor due to possible fluctuations of phases of local state-vector spaces. The experiment on interference of light performed recently by Franson and Potocki is interpreted in terms of fluctuation of the local phases and is considered to support the theory of finite degree of freedom which leads to the idea of local microscopic worlds.

Philip R. Wallace