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RETURN TO EQUILIBRIUM FOR SOME STOCHASTIC SCHRÖDINGER EQUATIONS

Stéphane Attal, Clément Pellegrini

Published Jan 1, 2011• 1 citation
OpenAlex

Abstract

The principle of "indirect continuous measurement" in "open quantum system theory" is usually described by non-usual types of stochastic differential equations. These equations are called "stochastic Schrödinger equations" and their solutions are called "quantum trajectories". Physically, they describe the random evolution of the state of a quantum system undergoing indirect quantum measurement (such models are widely used in quantum optics, quantum computing and quantum information theory). In this chapter, we consider a physically realistic discrete-time setup for two-level quantum systems and we present the theory of "discrete quantum trajectories". These discrete trajectories are Markov chains which can be expressed as solutions of "discrete-time" stochastic differential equations". In particular, these equations appear as time discretization of "stochastic Schrödinger equations". Going to the continuous-time limit, we justify the stochastic Schrödinger equations associated to the two-level systems. Within this approach, we obtain two different types of behaviors described either by jump-type or diffusive-type stochastic differential equations. Finally we investigate the large time behavior of the solutions and we prove return to equilibrium properties for the associated physical models.

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The principle of "indirect continuous measurement" in "open quantum system theory" is usually described by non-usual types of stochastic differential equations. These equations are called "stochastic Schrödinger equations" and their solutions are called "quantum trajectories". Physically, they describe the random evolution of the state of a quantum system undergoing indirect quantum measurement (such models are widely used in quantum optics, quantum computing and quantum information theory). In this chapter, we consider a physically realistic discrete-time setup for two-level quantum systems and we present the theory of "discrete quantum trajectories". These discrete trajectories are Markov chains which can be expressed as solutions of "discrete-time" stochastic differential equations". In particular, these equations appear as time discretization of "stochastic Schrödinger equations". Going to the continuous-time limit, we justify the stochastic Schrödinger equations associated to the two-level systems. Within this approach, we obtain two different types of behaviors described either by jump-type or diffusive-type stochastic differential equations. Finally we investigate the large time behavior of the solutions and we prove return to equilibrium properties for the associated physical models.
Recent developments in quantum physics make heavy use of so-called “quantum trajectories.” Mathematically, this theory gives rise to “stochastic Schrödinger equations,” that is, perturbation of Schrödinger-type equations under the form of stochastic differential equations. But such equations are in general not of the usual type as considered in the literature. They pose a serious problem in terms of justifying the existence and uniqueness of a solution, justifying the physical pertinence of the equations. In this article we concentrate on a particular case: the diffusive case, for a two-level system. We prove existence and uniqueness of the associated stochastic Schrödinger equation. We physically justify the equations by proving that they are a continuous-time limit of a concrete physical procedure for obtaining a quantum trajectory.
"Quantum trajectories" are solutions of stochastic differential equations also called Belavkin or Stochastic Schrödinger Equations. They describe random phenomena in quantum measurement theory. Two types of such equations are usually considered, one is driven by a one-dimensional Brownian motion and the other is driven by a counting process. In this article, we present a way to obtain more advanced models which use jump-diffusion stochastic differential equations. Such models come from solutions of martingale problems for infinitesimal generators. These generators are obtained from the limit of generators of classical Markov chains which describe discrete models of quantum trajectories. Furthermore, stochastic models of jump-diffusion equations are physically justified by proving that their solutions can be obtained as the limit of the discrete trajectories.
"Quantum trajectories" are solutions of stochastic differential equations of non-usual type. Such equations are called ``Belavkin'' or ``Stochastic Schrödinger Equations'' and describe random phenomena in continuous measurement theory of Open Quantum System. Many recent investigations deal with the control theory in such model. In this article, stochastic models are mathematically and physically justified as limit of concrete discrete procedures called ``Quantum Repeated Measurements''. In particular, this gives a rigorous justification of the Poisson and diffusion approximation in quantum measurement theory with control. Furthermore we investigate some examples using control in quantum mechanics.
We introduce jump-time unraveling as a distinct description of open quantum systems. As our starting point, we consider quantum jump trajectories, which emerge, physically, from continuous quantum measurements, or, formally, from the unraveling of Markovian quantum master equations. If the stochastically evolving quantum trajectories are ensemble-averaged at specific times, the resulting quantum states are solutions to the associated quantum master equation. We demonstrate that quantum trajectories can also be ensemble-averaged at specific jump counts. The resulting jump-time-averaged quantum states are then solutions to a discrete, deterministic evolution equation, with time replaced by the jump count. This jump-time evolution represents a trace-preserving quantum dynamical map if and only if the associated open system does not exhibit dark states. In the presence of dark states, on the other hand, jump-time-averaged states may decay into the dark states and the jump-time evolution may eventually terminate. Jump-time-averaged quantum states and the associated jump-time evolution are operationally accessible in continuous measurement schemes, when quantum jumps are detected and used to trigger the readout measurements. We illustrate the jump-time evolution with the examples of a two-level system undergoing relaxation or dephasing, a damped harmonic oscillator, and a free particle exposed to collisional decoherence.
Quantum trajectories are Markov processes that describe the time-evolution of a quantum system undergoing continuous indirect measurement. Mathematically, they are defined as solutions of the so-called "Stochastic Schrödinger Equations", which are nonlinear stochastic differential equations driven by Poisson and Wiener processes. This paper is devoted to the study of the invariant measures of quantum trajectories. Particularly, we prove that the invariant measure is unique under an ergodicity condition on the mean time evolution, and a "purification" condition on the generator of the evolution. We further show that quantum trajectories converge in law exponentially fast towards this invariant measure. We illustrate our results with examples where we can derive explicit expressions for the invariant measure.