Abstract The growing demand to understand non-equilibrium dynamics in open quantum many-body systems—motivated by progress in quantum simulation and error correction—requires theoretical frameworks that avoid the exponential scaling of the full density matrix. In this work, we develop a first-principles approach to the dissipative hydrodynamical equations of a finite-temperature superfluid. We show that dominant external dissipation not only simplifies the description of intrinsic damping (Beliaev and Landau) but also stabilizes a hydrodynamic formulation. Starting from a density-matrix method aligned with the Zaremba–Nikuni–Griffin formalism, a closed set of dissipative quantum Liouville equations (DQLE) can be obtained. We then introduce a systematic hydrodynamic expansion beyond the conventional Wigner transform, yielding a closed set of dissipative hydrodynamic equations (DHE). Through detailed comparison with the full DQLE, we demonstrate that retaining only the zeroth-order term in the expansion of the anomalous density matrix offers the most accurate and stable DHE implementation, in close agreement with the DQLE under strong dissipation and weak interaction. Our results establish a stabilized hydrodynamic theory for dissipative quantum fluids and significantly reduce the computational complexity of modeling open many-body dynamics.
Abstract The growing demand to understand non-equilibrium dynamics in open quantum many-body systems—motivated by progress in quantum simulation and error correction—requires theoretical frameworks that avoid the exponential scaling of the full density matrix. In this work, we develop a first-principles approach to the dissipative hydrodynamical equations of a finite-temperature superfluid. We show that dominant external dissipation not only simplifies the description of intrinsic damping (Beliaev and Landau) but also stabilizes a hydrodynamic formulation. Starting from a density-matrix method aligned with the Zaremba–Nikuni–Griffin formalism, a closed set of dissipative quantum Liouville equations (DQLE) can be obtained. We then introduce a systematic hydrodynamic expansion beyond the conventional Wigner transform, yielding a closed set of dissipative hydrodynamic equations (DHE). Through detailed comparison with the full DQLE, we demonstrate that retaining only the zeroth-order term in the expansion of the anomalous density matrix offers the most accurate and stable DHE implementation, in close agreement with the DQLE under strong dissipation and weak interaction. Our results establish a stabilized hydrodynamic theory for dissipative quantum fluids and significantly reduce the computational complexity of modeling open many-body dynamics.
In Chapter 17, we derived the Landau–Khalatnikov two-fluid hydrodynamics which describes the collision-dominated region of a trapped Bose condensate interacting with a thermal cloud. In this chapter, we use these equations to discuss the damping of the hydrodynamic collective modes in a trapped Bose gas at finite temperatures. We derive variational expressions based on these equations for both the frequency and the damping of collective modes. This extends the analysis in Chapter 16 in which a variational approach was developed to calculate the hydrodynamic two-fluid oscillation frequencies in the non-dissipative limit. A novel feature of our treatment is the introduction of frequency-dependent transport coefficients, which produce a natural cutoff eliminating the collisionless region in the low-density tail of the thermal cloud. Our expression for the damping in trapped superfluid Bose gases is a natural generalization of the approach used by Landau and Lifshitz (1959) for uniform classical fluids. This chapter is mainly based on Nikuni and Griffin (2004). In Chapters 15 and 17, we derived a closed set of two-fluid hydrodynamic equations for a trapped Bose-condensed gas starting from the simplified microscopic model describing the coupled dynamics of the condensate and noncondensate atoms given in Chapter 3. These hydrodynamic two-fluid equations include dissipative terms associated with the shear viscosity, the thermal conductivity and the four second viscosity coefficients. Explicit formulas for these transport coefficients were derived in Section 18.1. Our goal in this chapter is to find a general expression for the damping of the two-fluid modes in terms of these transport coefficients. We emphasize that the damping of hydrodynamic two-fluid oscillations is completely different in nature from the Landau and Beliaev damping of oscillations in the collisionless region which is treated in Chapters 12 and 13.
In the collisional region at finite temperatures, the collective modes of superfluids are described by the Landau two-fluid hydrodynamic equations reviewed in Chapter 14. In the case of trapped Bose gases, these are coupled differential equations with position-dependent coefficients associated with the local thermodynamic functions. Building on the approach initiated by Zaremba et al. (1999) for trapped atomic Bose gases, in this chapter we develop an alternative variational formulation of two-fluid hydrodynamics. This is based on the work of Zilsel (1950), originally developed to deal with superfluid He. Assuming a simple variational ansatz for the superfluid and normal fluid velocity fields, this approach reduces the problem of finding the hydrodynamic collective mode frequencies to solving coupled algebraic equations for a few variational parameters. These equations contain constants that involve spatial integrals over various equilibrium thermodynamic derivatives. Such a variational approach is both simpler and more physical than a direct attempt to solve the Landau two-fluid equations numerically. This chapter is mainly based on Taylor and Griffin (2005), Taylor (2008) and Zilsel (1950). In it, we discuss the normal modes of the non-dissipative Landau two-fluid equations for a trapped superfluid. In Section 16.3, we illustrate this formalism by deriving expressions for the frequencies of the dipole and breathing modes of a trapped Bose superfluid. In Chapters 17 and 18, we discuss an extended version of the two-fluid equations that includes hydrodynamic damping. The hydrodynamic damping of the collective modes is calculated in Chapter 19 using a generalized version of the variational approach developed in this chapter. Zilsel's variational formulation Since two-fluid hydrodynamics only describes a system in local equilibrium, all thermodynamic quantities are functions of position and time. Even in static equilibrium, in the presence of a trapping potential, most thermodynamic quantities will be position dependent.
In Chapter 15, we showed that in the limit of short collision times the coupled equations of motion for the condensate and noncondensate atoms lead to Landau's non-dissipative two-fluid hydrodynamics. However the approach used in Chapter 15 was not based on a small expansion parameter, in contrast with the more systematic Chapman–Enskog procedure used to derive hydrodynamic damping in the kinetic theory of classical gases. In the present chapter, we generalize the procedure of Chapter 15 to trapped Bose-condensed gases, in order to derive two-fluid hydrodynamic equations that include dissipation due to transport processes. We solve the kinetic equation by expanding the nonequilibrium single-particle distribution function f ( p, r , t ) around the distribution function f (0) ( p, r , t ) that describes complete local equilibrium between the condensate and the noncondensate components. All hydrodynamic damping effects are included by taking into account deviations from the local equilibrium distribution function f (0) . Our discussion for a trapped Bose gas is a natural extension of the pioneering work of Kirkpatrick and Dorfman (1983, 1985a) for a uniform Bose-condensed gas. This chapter is mainly based on their work as well as on Nikuni and Griffin (2001a,b). We will prove that, with appropriate definitions of various thermodynamic variables, our two-fluid hydrodynamic equations including damping have precisely the structure of those first derived by Landau and Khalatnikov for superfluid He. In particular, the damping associated with the collisional exchange of atoms between the condensate and noncondensate components, which is discussed at length in Chapter 15, is now expressed in terms of frequency-dependent second viscosity coefficients. This special type of damping is a characteristic signature of a dilute Bose superfluid and exists in addition to the hydrodynamic damping associated with the shear viscosity and thermal conductivity of the normal fluid.
The detailed understanding of the intricate dynamics of quantum fluids, in particular in the rapidly growing subfield of quantum turbulence which elucidates the evolution of a vortex tangle in a superfluid, requires an in-depth understanding of the role of finite temperature in such systems. The Landau two-fluid model is the most successful hydrodynamical theory of superfluid helium, but by the nature of the scale separations it cannot give an adequate description of the processes involving vortex dynamics and interactions. In our contribution we introduce a framework based on a nonlinear classical-field equation that is mathematically identical to the Landau model and provides a mechanism for severing and coalescence of vortex lines, so that the questions related to the behavior of quantized vortices can be addressed self-consistently. The correct equation of state as well as nonlocality of interactions that leads to the existence of the roton minimum can also be introduced in such description. We review and apply the ideas developed for finite-temperature description of weakly interacting Bose gases as possible extensions and numerical refinements of the proposed method. We apply this method to elucidate the behavior of the vortices during expansion and contraction following the change in applied pressure. We show that at low temperatures, during the contraction of the vortex core as the negative pressure grows back to positive values, the vortex line density grows through a mechanism of vortex multiplication. This mechanism is suppressed at high temperatures.
In recent years trajectory based methodologies have become increasingly popular for evaluating the time evolution of quantum systems. A revival of the de Broglie Bohm interpretation of quantum mechanics has spawned several such techniques for examining quantum dynamics from a hydrodynamic perspective. Using techniques similar to those found in computational fluid dynamics one can construct the wavefunction of a quantum system at any time from the trajectories of a discrete ensemble of hydrodynamic fluid elements (Bohm particles) which evolve according to non-classical equations of motion. Until very recently these schemes have been limited to closed systems. In this paper we present our methodology for including the effects of a thermal environment into the hydrodynamic formulation of quantum dynamics. We derive hydrodynamic equations of motion from the Caldeira-Leggett master equation for the reduced density matrix and give a brief overview of our computational scheme which incorporates an adaptive Lagrangian mesh. Our applications focus upon the dissipative dynamics of open unbounded quantum systems. Using both the Wigner phase space representation and the linear entropy we probe the breakdown of the Markov approximation of the bath dynamics at low temperatures. We suggest a criteria for rationalizing the validity of the Markov approximation in open unbound systems and discuss decoherence, energy relaxation, and quantum/classical correspondence in the context of the Bohmian paths.
Griffin, Wu and Stringari have derived the hydrodynamic equations of a trapped dilute Bose gas above the Bose-Einstein transition temperature. We give the extension which includes hydrodynamic damping, following the classic work of Uehling and Uhlenbeck based on the Chapman-Enskog procedure. Our final result is a closed equation for the velocity fluctuations δv which includes the hydrodynamic damping due to the shear viscosity η and the thermal conductivity κ. Following Kavoulakis, Pethick and Smith, we introduce a spatial cutoff in our linearized equations when the density is so low that the hydrodynamic description breaks down. Explicit expressions are given for η and κ, which are position-dependent through dependence on the local fugacity when one includes the effect of quantum degeneracy of the trapped gas. We also discuss a trapped Bose-condensed gas, generalizing the work of Zaremba, Griffin and Nikuni to include hydrodynamic damping due to the (non-condensate) normal fluid.