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Constructing Dynamical Symmetries

James Russell Hamilton, Raphael David Levine, F. Remacle

Published Nov 14, 2023• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Dynamical symmetries, operators that do not quite commute with the Hamiltonian, extend the role of ordinary symmetries. They also provide an interesting insight on constants of the motion. Motivated by progress in quantum technologies we discuss a practical algebraic approach to computing such time-dependent operators. Explicitly we expand them as a linear combination with time dependent coefficients of time-dependent Schrödinger operators. We propose possible applications in determining quantum mechanical distributions of maximal entropy and to the dynamics of systems of coherently coupled coherent two state systems. We suggest that this generates an Ising-like Hamiltonian where each ’spin’ is a state and therefore of relevance to quantum computing based on qubit architecture.

DOI
10.26434/chemrxiv-2023-v5g58

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Dynamical symmetries, operators that do not quite commute with the Hamiltonian, extend the role of ordinary symmetries. They also provide an interesting insight on constants of the motion. Motivated by progress in quantum technologies we discuss a practical algebraic approach to computing such time-dependent operators. Explicitly we expand them as a linear combination with time dependent coefficients of time-dependent Schrödinger operators. We propose possible applications in determining quantum mechanical distributions of maximal entropy and to the dynamics of systems of coherently coupled coherent two state systems. We suggest that this generates an Ising-like Hamiltonian where each ’spin’ is a state and therefore of relevance to quantum computing based on qubit architecture.
Dynamical symmetries, time-dependent operators that almost commute with the Hamiltonian, extend the role of ordinary symmetries. Motivated by progress in quantum technologies, we illustrate a practical algebraic approach to computing such time-dependent operators. Explicitly we expand them as a linear combination of time-independent operators with time-dependent coefficients. There are possible applications to the dynamics of systems of coupled coherent two-state systems, such as qubits, pumped by optical excitation and other addressing inputs. Thereby, the interaction of the system with the excitation is bilinear in the coherence between the two states and in the strength of the time-dependent excitation. The total Hamiltonian is a sum of such bilinear terms and of terms linear in the populations. The terms in the Hamiltonian form a basis for Lie algebra, which can be represented as coupled individual two-state systems, each using the population and the coherence between two states. Using the factorization approach of Wei and Norman, we construct a unitary quantum mechanical evolution operator that is a factored contribution of individual two-state systems. By that one can accurately propagate both the wave function and the density matrix with special relevance to quantum computing based on qubit architecture. Explicit examples are derived for the electronic dynamics in coupled semi-conducting nanoparticles that can be used as hardware for quantum technologies.
Optical excitation in the dipole approximation and other probes couple two quantum states of an unaddressed finite quantum mechanical discrete system. Thereby the interaction of the system with the probe is bilinear in the coherence between the two states and in the time-dependent strength of the probe. The total Hamiltonian is a sum of such bilinear terms and of terms linear in the populations. The terms in the Hamiltonian form a basis for a Lie algebra that can be represented as a direct product of individual two state systems each using the population and the coherence between two states. Dynamical symmetries can be used to advantage to describe the progress of such systems in time. They also offer a compact and efficient representation for a density matrix of maximal entropy that evolves in time. Using the factorization approach of Wei and Norman, (J. Wei and E. Norman, Lie Algebraic Solution of Linear Differential Equations, J. Math. Phys. 4, 575 (1963)), we construct a unitary quantum mechanical evolution operator that is a factored contribution of individual two state systems. Thereby one can propagate, to all orders in perturbation theory, both the wave function and the density matrix with special reference to dynamical symmetries.
Using the transformations from paper I, we show that the Schrödinger equations for (1) systems described by quadratic Hamiltonians, (2) systems with time-varying mass, and (3) time-dependent oscillators all have isomorphic Lie space–time symmetry algebras. The generators of the symmetry algebras are obtained explicitly for each case and sets of number-operator states are constructed. The algebras and the states are used to compute displacement-operator coherent and squeezed states. Some properties of the coherent and squeezed states are calculated. The classical motion of these states is demonstrated.
A unifying framework is presented which treats time-dependent problems in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics on equal footing with stationary ones. This is accomplished by elevating time t to the role of a dynamical variable and considering evolution in an extended space with respect to a progress variable τ. Among the new objects in the extended space are the time operator as well as operators, such as energy, that are not diagonal in time. The latter bear, e.g., on the question of ‘‘quantum chaos.’’ Only τ-stationary states in the extended space are necessary to recover all of the Schrödinger time evolution. In particular, time-dependent constants of the motion (and these include time-evolved density matrices) elevate to stationary constants of the τ motion. Time-dependent problems, which may also involve time-dependent Hamiltonians, can then be solved by stationary-state methods. Special attention is given to applications based on time-dependent constants of the motion and to maximum-entropy states subject to time-dependent constraints. Two examples (rank-one perturbation, damped harmonic oscillator) illustrate some of these ideas. Scattering theory in the extended space is discussed in two appendices. It furnishes a picture of Hamiltonian τ evolution which promises to embrace also irreversible dynamics.
Simple examples are used to introduce and examine symmetries of open quantum dynamics that can be described by unitary operators. For the Hamiltonian dynamics of an entire closed system, the symmetry takes the expected form which, when the Hamiltonian has a lower bound, says that the unitary symmetry operator commutes with the Hamiltonian operator. There are many more symmetries that are only for the open dynamics of a subsystem. Examples show how these symmetries alone can reveal properties of the dynamics and reduce what needs to be done to work out the dynamics. A symmetry of the open dynamics of a subsystem can even imply properties of the dynamics for the entire system that are not implied by the symmetries of the dynamics of the entire system. The symmetries are generally not related to constants of the motion for the open dynamics of the subsystem. There are many symmetries that cannot be seen in the Schrodinger picture as symmetries of dynamical maps of density matrices for the subsystem. There are symmetries of the open dynamics of a subsystem that depend only on the dynamics. In the simplest examples, these are also symmetries of the dynamics of the entire system. There are many more symmetries, of a new kind, that also depend on correlations, or absence of correlations, between the subsystem and the rest of the entire system, or on the state of the rest of the entire system.
A representation of invariants in quantum mechanics for a general time-dependent Hamiltonian is provided. The main properties of these operators and their relevance for solving the Schrödinger equation are discussed in light of this representation. In particular, the well-known Lewis and Riesenfeld’s method is shown to be recovered quite directly by the present approach. A detailed analysis is concerned with Hamiltonians which at each instant are elements of a finite dimensional Lie algebra. Exploiting the Wei and Norman’s theory for such Hamiltonians, it is found that the evolution of a quantum system is always determined, in part or fully, by an invariant which belongs to the same algebra.