In this thesis, we study semiclassical phase-space methods for quantum evolution in Hermitian and non-Hermitian systems. We first present the dynamics of Gaussian wave packets under non-Hermitian Hamiltonians and interpret them as a classical dynamics for complex Hamiltonians. We use these to derive exact dynamics for wave packets in the quadratic Swanson oscillator. We show that in the case of unbroken PT-symmetry there can be periodic divergences in this system and relate this to the fact that any operator mapping the system to a Hermitian counterpart is unbounded. We apply the semiclassical wave-packet dynamics to two further anharmonic example systems: a PT-symmetric wave guide, a version of which we propose as a filtering device for optical beams, and a non-Hermitian single-band tight-binding model, for which we use classical equations of motion to model both narrowly and widely distributed initial states. We further develop an exact quantum propagator for non-Hermitian dynamics using lattices of wave packets, whose evolution is governed by the semiclassical equations of motion. We demonstrate that this accurately reproduces quantum dynamics compared to the split operator method. Finally we study a Hermitian two-mode many-particle model for bosonic atom-molecule conversion, for which the classical phase-space structure is an orbifold. We show that standard semiclassical tools may be applied to recover features such as the dynamics, spectrum and density of states of the many-particle system.
The study of coherent states (CS) for a quantum mechanical system has \nreceived a lot of attention. The definition, applications, generalizations of \nsuch states have been the subject of work by researchers. A common starting \npoint of all these approaches is the observation of properties of the original \nCS for the harmonic oscillator. It is well-known that they are described \nequivalently as (a) eigenstates of the usual annihilation operator, (b) from \na displacement operator acting on a fundamental state and (c) as minimum \nuncertainty states. What we observe in the different generalizations proposed \nis that the preceding definitions are no longer equivalent and only some of \nthe properties of the harmonic oscillator CS are preserved. \nIn this thesis we propose to study a new class of coherent states and \nits properties. We note that in one example our CS coincide with the ones \nproposed by Glauber where a set of three requirements for such states has \nbeen imposed. The set of our generalized coherent states remains invariant \nunder the corresponding time evolution and this property is called temporal \nstability. Secondly, there is no state which is orthogonal to all coherent states (the coherent states form a total set). The third property is that we \nget all coherent states by acting on one of these states [¿fiducial vector¿] with \noperators. They are highly non-classical states, in the sense that in general, \ntheir Bargmann functions have zeros which are related to negative regions of \ntheir Wigner functions. Examples of these coherent states with Bargmann \nfunction that involve the Gamma and also the Riemann ¿ functions are represented. \nThe zeros of these Bargmann functions and the paths of the zeros \nduring time evolution are also studied.
This thesis is concerned with a concept of geometrising time evolution of quantum systems. This concept is inspired by the fact that the Legendre transform expresses dynamics of a classical system through first-order Hamiltonian equations. We consider, in this thesis, coherent state transforms with a similar effect in quantum mechanics: they reduce certain quantum Hamiltonians to first-order partial differential operators. Therefore, the respective dynamics can be explicitly solved through a flow of points in extensions of the phase space. This, in particular, generalises the geometric dynamics of a harmonic oscillator in the Fock-Segal-Bargmann (FSB) space. We describe all Hamiltonians which are geometrised (in the above sense) by Gaussian and Airy beams and exhibit explicit solutions for such systems
This thesis addresses aspects of quantum phase and sets out to draw attention to a collection of new and extend some not so new techniques utilizing Weyl's correspondence rule and its inverse. The phase formulation of quantum mechanics is as old as quantum mechanics itself and evolved over a period of two decades due to the contributions of H. Weyl \cite{Weyl1950}, E. P. Wigner \cite{Wigner1932}, H. Groenewold \cite{Groenewold1946} and J. E. Moyal \cite{Moyal1949}. Over the ensuing years the phase picture has matured into a practical analytical tool, and has generated a multitude of technical papers, reports, reviews, and expositions from many authors and commentators. One reason for its success is that it offers an intuitive picture of quantum mechanics owing to its \it{classical look and feel}, and it has made an impression, in one way or another, in many fields such as mathematical physics, quantum optics, and physical chemistry.The thesis opens with a brief history of classical phase space, tracing the possible origin of the term ``phase space itself, and chronicles the events leading to the conceptualization (and generalization) of quantum phase space. In Chapter 2 the Weyl correspondence is recast in terms of von Neumann's integral kernel transform and a heuristic analysis is given from this perspective. A characteristic of Weyl's correspondence rule and its inverse is that there are two inherent representations of the same operator. These have been referred to as the Weyl representation and Wigner representation and are related by a symplectic Fourier transform. For an arbitrary outer dyadic operator it is shown that the Weyl representation leads to the \it{modified} Gabor transform (known to Signal Processing), while the Wigner representation specializes to the Bargmann transform and a representation in terms of analytic functions. Calculating Weyl-Wigner (WW) transforms of products of
n operators, from first principles, has proved to be a technically difficult problem. However, with the machinery developed in Chapter 2 the problem is reduced to a straightforward algebraic exercise. Finally, forming an
s-parametrized generalization of Weyl's correspondence rule and focusing on the Weyl representation it is shown to lead to an intimate relationship with the relative state formalism \cite{Ban1998}. Weyl's correspondence rule is only applicable to operators and consequently state vectors
∣ψ⟩ are not represented in the usual formulation of quantum phase space. This problem is circumvented in Chapter 3 by introducing the notion of a normalized fixed state (or window) vector
∣φ0⟩ to form an outer dyadic product $\wh{\Psi} = |\psi\rangle\langle\varphi_0|$. The WW transform of this product under the action of the Weyl's rule is a complex valued function of real variables called a phase amplitude and denoted by the symbol
Ψ. The phase amplitudes have many (and sometimes surprising) properties. For example they: \begin{itemize} \item form the building blocks of Wigner functions
W by admitting a generalized Born rule
W=Ψ⋆Ψˉ, and as such can be considered to be a more fundamental objects than Wigner functions; \item superpose and interfere like the state vectors they represent; \item specialize to the Bargmann and Gabor transforms when a Gaussian window is chosen; \end{itemize} \ni In Chapter 4 further aspects of phase amplitudes are explored and discussed. For example it is shown that they: \begin{itemize} \item define phase state vectors which form an over complete set and are elements of a reproducing kernel Hilbert space; \item allow unitary ray representations of the group symmetries of translation, rotation and time reversal; \item evolve in phase under the influence of a propagator
R which is intimately related to the Wigner propagator
P. \end{itemize} Chapter 5 considers an extension of phase amplitudes to include systems with finitely many degrees of freedom. These are called spin amplitudes and are obtained by first forming the outer dyadic product of a spin state vector with an arbitrary fixed spin state vector, and then applying a finite-dimensional analogue of the WW transform. The spin amplitude operator is represented as an
n×n matrix, whose elements are products of the spin components of the spin and fixed state vectors. Two kinds of spin amplitudes are considered, arising on the sphere
S2 or on a
(2j+1) dimensional lattice. In the special case of spin-$\half$ systems it is shown that the spin amplitudes transform as spinors under rotations on both the sphere and lattice. As a physical application the spin amplitudes for a spin-$\half$ magnetic dipole are found for a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) environment. Chapter 6 considers Schwinger's abstract approach to quantum mechanics which takes into account the inability to indefinitely compensate for fluctuations in the measurement process. The resulting measurement algebra provides a symbolic representation of the physical laws as opposed to the mathematical abstraction (of von Neumann and Dirac) that was justified \it{\'a posteriori} by being in agreement with experiment. Despite Schwinger's prolific work on the subject of measurement algebra, its interpretation in quantum phase remained an open issue. It is shown that the key to formulating a quantum phase in terms of the measurement operators and transformation functions is the determination of a suitable set of basis operators for an arbitrary measurement operator. Many new results follow as a consequence of expanding an arbitrary measurement operator in this basis. In Chapter 7 the quantum-classical interface is explored by considering Hamilton's principal function or action
S(q,v,t). Starting from a purely heuristic classical argument, a phase function
U(p,q,t) is derived in terms of the classical action and is shown to be proportional to the WW transform of the quantum evolution operator. This association leads to the transform \be U(p,q,t) = A(t) \int e^{ipv/\hbar} e^{iS(q,v,t)/\hbar} \; \rm{d}v, \ee which enables one, in principle, to deduce the Wigner functions of a given system when only the classical action is known. Simple physical systems are used to provide examples illustrating this approach.
In this Chapter we study the Weyl–Heisenberg group in the Schrödinger representation in arbitrary dimension n. One shows that it operates in the Hilbert space of quantum states (and on quantum operators) as a phase-space translation. Then applying it to a Schwartz class state of arbitrary profile we get a set of generalized coherent states. When we apply the Weyl–Heisenberg translation operator to the ground state of the n-dimensional Harmonic Oscillator, one gets the standard coherent states introduced by Schrödinger [233] (Naturwissenshaften 14:664–666, 1926) in the early days of quantum mechanics (1926). Later the coherent states have been extensively studied by Glauber [118, 119] (Phys. Rev. 131:2766–2788, 1963; Phys. Rev. 130:2529–2539, 1963) for the purpose of quantum optics and it seems that their name comes back to this work. The standard coherent states have been generalized by Perelomov [208] (Generalised Coherent States and Their Applications, 1986) to more general Lie groups than the Weyl–Heisenberg group. We also introduce the usual creation and annihilation operators in dimension n which are very convenient for the study of coherent states. We show that coherent states constitute a non-orthogonal over-complete system which yields a resolution of the identity operator in the Hilbert space and which allows a computation of the Hilbert–Schmidt norm and of the trace of respectively Hilbert–Schmidt class and trace-class operators. We study their time-evolution for the quantum Harmonic Oscillator hamiltonian and show that a time evolved coherent state located around phase-space point z is up to a phase a coherent state located around the phase-space point
zt, where
zt is the phase-space point of the classical flow governed by the Harmonic Oscillator. This property was described by Schrödinger as the non-spreading of the time evolution of coherent states under the quantum Harmonic Oscillator dynamics. We also show how to go from the Schrödinger to the Fock–Bargmann representation using the standard coherent states.
Abstract. We describe a family of coherent states and an associated resolution of the identity for a quantum particle whose classical configuration space is the d-dimensional sphere S d. The coherent states are labeled by points in the associated phase space T ∗ (S d). These coherent states are not of Perelomov type but rather are constructed as the eigenvectors of suitably defined annihilation operators. We describe as well the Segal–Bargmann representation for the system, the associated unitary Segal–Bargmann transform, and a natural inversion formula. Although many of these results are in principle special cases of the results of B. Hall and M. Stenzel, we give here a substantially different description based on ideas of T. Thiemann and of K. Kowalski and J. Rembieliński. All of these results can be generalized to a system whose configuration space is an arbitrary compact symmetric space. We focus on the sphere case in order to carry out the calculations in a self-contained and explicit way.