Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:cond-mat/0107341

Environment induced localization and superselection rules in a gas of pyramidal molecules

Giovanni Jona-Lasinio, Carlo Presilla A, Cristina Toninelli

Published Jul 16, 2001• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose a model to describe a gas of pyramidal molecules interacting via dipole-dipole interactions. A cooperative effect induced by the interaction modifies the tunneling properties between the classical equilibrium configurations of the single molecule. The model suggests that, for sufficiently high gas density, the molecules become localized in these classical configurations. On this basis it is possible to explain the shift and the disappearance of the inversion line observed upon increase of the pressure in a gas of ammonia or deuterated ammonia. The same mechanism also accounts for the presence of stable optical activity of certain pyramidal molecules. We discuss the concept of environment induced superselection rule which has been invoked in connection with this problem.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0107341

Related papers

Instability of tunneling and the concept of molecular structure in quantum mechanics: The case of pyramidal molecules and the enantiomer problem

P. Claverie, Giovanni Jona-Lasinio

In this paper we propose a possible explanation of the fact that certain molecules exhibiting symmetric configurations are localized in one of them, instead of being delocalized as predicted by a naive application of quantum mechanics. Our mechanism is based upon the instability, in the semiclassical regime, of delocalized states under small perturbations (among which we consider the reaction field due to the environment). This mechanism predicts, for example, a different behavior for ${\mathrm{NH}}_{3}$ and ${\mathrm{AsH}}_{3}$ (delocalized ground state in the former case, localized ground state in the latter case), and similar to the case of ${\mathrm{AsH}}_{3}$ we expect localized states in the case of optical isomers, in agreement with the empirical evidence. Possible consequences concerning the understanding of the ``classical limit'' in general are briefly outlined.

Physical Review A•Apr 1, 1986•90 citations

Weak Interactions ,Tunneling Racemization and Chiral Stability

M. Cattani, José Maria Filardo Bassalo

We study in the framework of the Schrodinger equation the effect of intermolecular interactions on the tunneling racemization of the active molecule. The active molecule is assumed as a two-level system and the left-right isomerism is viewed in terms of a double-bottomed harmonic potential well. The active molecule is assumed to be embedded in a gas, liquid or solid, submitted to a perturbing potential U created by the molecules of the sample. In our model we take into account the difference of energy E due to the weak interactions between the left (L) and right (R) configurations. We have shown that when E is equal to zero the system cannot be optically stable: the optical activity tends asymptotically to zero in the case of dilute gases or compressed gases and liquids or oscillates periodically around zero when the molecules are isolated or submitted to a static potential. Only when E is different of zero the system can be optically stable depending on the strength parameters of the potential U and on the magnitude of the spontaneous tunneling.

arXiv:0910.4133•Oct 21, 2009•0 citations

Quantum molecular dynamics study of the pressure dependence of the ammonia inversion transition

Isabelle Herbauts, David J. Dunstan

The mechanism of the shift, broadening, and quenching of the ammonia inversion frequency with gas pressure has been a problem of lively interest for over $70\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{years}$. A simple quantum model of the ammonia molecule perturbed by collisions with ideal gas molecules displays the essential features of the experimental data for $\mathrm{N}{\mathrm{H}}_{3}$ and for $\mathrm{N}{\mathrm{D}}_{3}$. The model does not display the behavior expected from theories of environmental decoherence. On the other hand, models of perturbed classical oscillators do display behavior similar to our model and to experimental data. The quenching of the ammonia inversion transition cannot therefore be interpreted as spatial localization of the wave function.

arXiv:0704.1921•Physical Review A•Dec 14, 2007•5 citations

Environment-induced superselection rules

Wojciech Hubert Zurek

We show how the correlations of a quantum system with other quantum systems may cause one of its observables to behave in a classical manner. In particular, "reduction of the wave packet," postulated by von Neumann to explain definiteness of an outcome of an individual observation, can be explained when a realistic model of an apparatus is adopted. Instead of an isolated quantum apparatus with a number of states equal to the number of possible distinct outcomes of the measurement, discussed by von Neumann, we consider an apparatus interacting with other physical systems, described here summarily as "environment." The interaction of the quantum apparatus with the environment results in correlations. Correlations impose effective superselection rules which prevent apparatus from appearing in a superposition of states corresponding to different eigenvalues of the privileged pointer observable. It is the propagation of the correlations with the pointer basis states which is ultimately responsible for the choice of the pointer observable. It can be thought of as a process of amplification in which the state of many distinct physical systems becomes correlated with the pointer basis state. Whether these environment systems are regarded as a part of the apparatus setup, or as a part of its environment is irrelevant. What is crucial is the redundancy of the record concerning the pointer observable which is imprinted into the correlations. Eigenspaces of the pointer observable provide a natural basis for the pointer of the quantum apparatus and determine the to-be-measured observable of the quantum system. Decay of those elements of the apparatus-system density matrix, which are off-diagonal in the pointer observable, is caused by the natural evolution of the combined system-apparatus-environment object. For a hypothetical finite environment with $N$ distinct eigenvalues of the apparatus-environment interaction Hamiltonian, off-diagonal terms will decay to become of the order of ${N}^{\ensuremath{-}\frac{1}{2}}$, and will recur only on a Poincar\'e time scale. No recurrences will be observed in realistic circumstances. As the correlations spread through the environment on a time scale typically much shorter than the recurrence time scale calculated for the environment already correlated with the pointer observable, the measurement becomes effectively irreversible. Relevance of this model of the measurement process for the understanding of the second law of thermodynamics and its relation to Bohr's "irreversible act of amplification" is briefly discussed. The emergence of the pointer observable can be interpreted as a clue about the resolution of the measurement problem in case of no environment. It points towards the possibility that properties of quantum systems have no absolute meaning. Rather, they must be always characterized with respect to other physical systems.

Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields•Oct 15, 1982•1,410 citations

Exactly soluble models of decoherence

Joachim Kupsch

Superselection rules induced by the interaction with the environment are a basis to understand the emergence of classical observables within quantum theory. The aim of this article is to investigate the decoherence effects, which lead to superselection sectors, with the help of exactly soluble Hamiltonian models. Starting from the examples of Araki and of Zurek more general models with scattering are presented for which the projection operators onto the induced superselection sectors do no longer commute with the Hamiltonian. The example of an environment given by a free quantum field indicates that infrared divergence plays an essential role for the emergence of induced superselection sectors. For all models the induced superselection sectors are uniquely determined by the Hamiltonian, whereas the time scale of the decoherence depends crucially on the initial state of the total system.

arXiv:quant-ph/9811010•Nov 4, 1998•1 citation

Ultracold dipolar gases in deep optical lattices

Michael Klawunn

Ultracold dilute atomic gases are highly controllable systems whose properties are fundamentally determined by the interatomic interactions.In typical experiments on ultra cold gases particles interact dominantly via a short-range isotropic potential.However, during the last years a new generation of experiments is starting to explore systems, where an additional interaction, the long-range and anisotropic dipole-dipole interaction plays a significant or possibly dominant role.The effects induced by the anisotropy of the dipole-dipole interaction are crucially enhanced if the dipolar gas is confined in a deep optical lattice.In this thesis we study novel phenomena in such systems of dipolar gases in deep optical lattices.The nonlocal nonlinearity introduced by the dipole-dipole interaction plays a crucial role in the physics of dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates.In particular, it may distort significantly the stability of straight vortex lines.Remarkably, in the presence of a periodic potential along the vortex line, the spectrum of transverse modes shows a roton-like minimum, which eventually destabilizes the straight vortex when the BEC as a whole is still stable, opening the possibility for new scenarios for vortex line configurations in dipolar gases.We have analyzed this instability, and showed that it leads to a second-order-like phase transition from a straight vortex line into novel helical or snake-like configurations, depending on the dipole orientation.Strong 1D lattices usually lead to unconnected two-dimensional gases.The long-range character of the dipole-dipole interactions leads to a novel scenario where non-overlapping gases at different sites may interact significantly.We show that the excitations of non-overlapping condensates in 1D optical lattices acquire a band-like character, being collectively shared by different sites.In particular, the hybridization of the modes significantly enhances the rotonization of the excitations, and may induce roton-instability.We discuss the observability of this effect in on-going experiments.Fermionic polar molecules in deep 1D optical lattices may form selfassembled filaments when the electric dipoles are oriented along the lattice axis.These composites are bosons or fermions depending on the number of molecules per chain, leading to a peculiar and complex Bose-Fermi mixture, vi which we discuss in detail for the simplest case of a three-well potential.We show that the interplay between filament binding energy, transverse filament modes, and trimer Fermi energy leads to a rich variety of possible scenarios ranging from a degenerate Fermi gas of trimers to a binary mixture of two different types of bosonic dimers.We study the intriguing zero temperature and finite temperature physics of these composites for the particular case of an ideal filament gas loaded in 1D sites, and discuss possible methods to probe these chain mixtures.

•Jan 1, 2009•0 citations
We propose a model to describe a gas of pyramidal molecules interacting via dipole-dipole interactions. A cooperative effect induced by the interaction modifies the tunneling properties between the classical equilibrium configurations of the single molecule. The model suggests that, for sufficiently high gas density, the molecules become localized in these classical configurations. On this basis it is possible to explain the shift and the disappearance of the inversion line observed upon increase of the pressure in a gas of ammonia or deuterated ammonia. The same mechanism also accounts for the presence of stable optical activity of certain pyramidal molecules. We discuss the concept of environment induced superselection rule which has been invoked in connection with this problem.
In this paper we propose a possible explanation of the fact that certain molecules exhibiting symmetric configurations are localized in one of them, instead of being delocalized as predicted by a naive application of quantum mechanics. Our mechanism is based upon the instability, in the semiclassical regime, of delocalized states under small perturbations (among which we consider the reaction field due to the environment). This mechanism predicts, for example, a different behavior for NH3{\mathrm{NH}}_{3}NH3​ and AsH3{\mathrm{AsH}}_{3}AsH3​ (delocalized ground state in the former case, localized ground state in the latter case), and similar to the case of AsH3{\mathrm{AsH}}_{3}AsH3​ we expect localized states in the case of optical isomers, in agreement with the empirical evidence. Possible consequences concerning the understanding of the ``classical limit'' in general are briefly outlined.
We study in the framework of the Schrodinger equation the effect of intermolecular interactions on the tunneling racemization of the active molecule. The active molecule is assumed as a two-level system and the left-right isomerism is viewed in terms of a double-bottomed harmonic potential well. The active molecule is assumed to be embedded in a gas, liquid or solid, submitted to a perturbing potential U created by the molecules of the sample. In our model we take into account the difference of energy E due to the weak interactions between the left (L) and right (R) configurations. We have shown that when E is equal to zero the system cannot be optically stable: the optical activity tends asymptotically to zero in the case of dilute gases or compressed gases and liquids or oscillates periodically around zero when the molecules are isolated or submitted to a static potential. Only when E is different of zero the system can be optically stable depending on the strength parameters of the potential U and on the magnitude of the spontaneous tunneling.
The mechanism of the shift, broadening, and quenching of the ammonia inversion frequency with gas pressure has been a problem of lively interest for over 70years70\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{years}70years. A simple quantum model of the ammonia molecule perturbed by collisions with ideal gas molecules displays the essential features of the experimental data for NH3\mathrm{N}{\mathrm{H}}_{3}NH3​ and for ND3\mathrm{N}{\mathrm{D}}_{3}ND3​. The model does not display the behavior expected from theories of environmental decoherence. On the other hand, models of perturbed classical oscillators do display behavior similar to our model and to experimental data. The quenching of the ammonia inversion transition cannot therefore be interpreted as spatial localization of the wave function.
We show how the correlations of a quantum system with other quantum systems may cause one of its observables to behave in a classical manner. In particular, "reduction of the wave packet," postulated by von Neumann to explain definiteness of an outcome of an individual observation, can be explained when a realistic model of an apparatus is adopted. Instead of an isolated quantum apparatus with a number of states equal to the number of possible distinct outcomes of the measurement, discussed by von Neumann, we consider an apparatus interacting with other physical systems, described here summarily as "environment." The interaction of the quantum apparatus with the environment results in correlations. Correlations impose effective superselection rules which prevent apparatus from appearing in a superposition of states corresponding to different eigenvalues of the privileged pointer observable. It is the propagation of the correlations with the pointer basis states which is ultimately responsible for the choice of the pointer observable. It can be thought of as a process of amplification in which the state of many distinct physical systems becomes correlated with the pointer basis state. Whether these environment systems are regarded as a part of the apparatus setup, or as a part of its environment is irrelevant. What is crucial is the redundancy of the record concerning the pointer observable which is imprinted into the correlations. Eigenspaces of the pointer observable provide a natural basis for the pointer of the quantum apparatus and determine the to-be-measured observable of the quantum system. Decay of those elements of the apparatus-system density matrix, which are off-diagonal in the pointer observable, is caused by the natural evolution of the combined system-apparatus-environment object. For a hypothetical finite environment with NNN distinct eigenvalues of the apparatus-environment interaction Hamiltonian, off-diagonal terms will decay to become of the order of ${N}^{\ensuremath{-}\frac{1}{2}}$, and will recur only on a Poincar\'e time scale. No recurrences will be observed in realistic circumstances. As the correlations spread through the environment on a time scale typically much shorter than the recurrence time scale calculated for the environment already correlated with the pointer observable, the measurement becomes effectively irreversible. Relevance of this model of the measurement process for the understanding of the second law of thermodynamics and its relation to Bohr's "irreversible act of amplification" is briefly discussed. The emergence of the pointer observable can be interpreted as a clue about the resolution of the measurement problem in case of no environment. It points towards the possibility that properties of quantum systems have no absolute meaning. Rather, they must be always characterized with respect to other physical systems.
Superselection rules induced by the interaction with the environment are a basis to understand the emergence of classical observables within quantum theory. The aim of this article is to investigate the decoherence effects, which lead to superselection sectors, with the help of exactly soluble Hamiltonian models. Starting from the examples of Araki and of Zurek more general models with scattering are presented for which the projection operators onto the induced superselection sectors do no longer commute with the Hamiltonian. The example of an environment given by a free quantum field indicates that infrared divergence plays an essential role for the emergence of induced superselection sectors. For all models the induced superselection sectors are uniquely determined by the Hamiltonian, whereas the time scale of the decoherence depends crucially on the initial state of the total system.
Ultracold dilute atomic gases are highly controllable systems whose properties are fundamentally determined by the interatomic interactions.In typical experiments on ultra cold gases particles interact dominantly via a short-range isotropic potential.However, during the last years a new generation of experiments is starting to explore systems, where an additional interaction, the long-range and anisotropic dipole-dipole interaction plays a significant or possibly dominant role.The effects induced by the anisotropy of the dipole-dipole interaction are crucially enhanced if the dipolar gas is confined in a deep optical lattice.In this thesis we study novel phenomena in such systems of dipolar gases in deep optical lattices.The nonlocal nonlinearity introduced by the dipole-dipole interaction plays a crucial role in the physics of dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates.In particular, it may distort significantly the stability of straight vortex lines.Remarkably, in the presence of a periodic potential along the vortex line, the spectrum of transverse modes shows a roton-like minimum, which eventually destabilizes the straight vortex when the BEC as a whole is still stable, opening the possibility for new scenarios for vortex line configurations in dipolar gases.We have analyzed this instability, and showed that it leads to a second-order-like phase transition from a straight vortex line into novel helical or snake-like configurations, depending on the dipole orientation.Strong 1D lattices usually lead to unconnected two-dimensional gases.The long-range character of the dipole-dipole interactions leads to a novel scenario where non-overlapping gases at different sites may interact significantly.We show that the excitations of non-overlapping condensates in 1D optical lattices acquire a band-like character, being collectively shared by different sites.In particular, the hybridization of the modes significantly enhances the rotonization of the excitations, and may induce roton-instability.We discuss the observability of this effect in on-going experiments.Fermionic polar molecules in deep 1D optical lattices may form selfassembled filaments when the electric dipoles are oriented along the lattice axis.These composites are bosons or fermions depending on the number of molecules per chain, leading to a peculiar and complex Bose-Fermi mixture, vi which we discuss in detail for the simplest case of a three-well potential.We show that the interplay between filament binding energy, transverse filament modes, and trimer Fermi energy leads to a rich variety of possible scenarios ranging from a degenerate Fermi gas of trimers to a binary mixture of two different types of bosonic dimers.We study the intriguing zero temperature and finite temperature physics of these composites for the particular case of an ideal filament gas loaded in 1D sites, and discuss possible methods to probe these chain mixtures.