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arXiv:cond-mat/9811357

Effective potential for dissipative quantum systems

Alessandro Cuccoli, Andrea Fubini, Rossi, A., V. Tognetti, Ruggero Vaia

Published Nov 25, 1998• 0 citations
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Abstract

We consider quantum nonlinear systems with dissipation described within the Caldeira-Leggett model, i.e., by a nonlocal action in the path integral for the density matrix. Approximate classical-like formulas are derived in order to evaluate thermal averages of observables: the cases of linear and nonlinear dissipation are considered, and the framework is extended to the case of many degrees of freedom.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/9811357

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We consider quantum nonlinear systems with dissipation described within the Caldeira-Leggett model, i.e., by a nonlocal action in the path integral for the density matrix. Approximate classical-like formulas are derived in order to evaluate thermal averages of observables: the cases of linear and nonlinear dissipation are considered, and the framework is extended to the case of many degrees of freedom.
We consider quantum nonlinear many-body systems with dissipation described within the Caldeira-Leggett model, i.e., by a nonlocal action in the path integral for the density matrix. Approximate classical-like formulas for thermodynamic quantities are derived for the case of many degrees of freedom, with general kinetic and dissipative quadratic forms. The underlying scheme is the pure-quantum self-consistent harmonic approximation (PQSCHA), equivalent to the variational approach by the Feynman-Jensen inequality with a suitable quadratic nonlocal trial action. A low-coupling approximation permits us to get manageable PQSCHA expressions for quantum thermal averages with a classical Boltzmann factor involving an effective potential and an inner Gaussian average that describes the fluctuations originating from the interplay of quanticity and dissipation. The application of the PQSCHA to a quantum phi(4) chain with Drude-like dissipation shows nontrivial effects of dissipation, depending upon its strength and bandwidth.
We study the quantum counterpart of the theorem on energy equipartition for classical systems. We consider a free quantum Brownian particle modeled in terms of the Caldeira-Leggett framework: a system plus thermostat consisting of an infinite number of harmonic oscillators. By virtue of the theorem on the averaged kinetic energy Ek{E}_{k}Ek​ of the quantum particle, it is expressed as ${E}_{k}=\ensuremath{\langle}{\mathcal{E}}_{k}\ensuremath{\rangle}$, where Ek{\mathcal{E}}_{k}Ek​ is the thermal kinetic energy of the thermostat per 1 degree of freedom and $\ensuremath{\langle}\ensuremath{\cdots}\ensuremath{\rangle}$ denotes averaging over the frequencies $\ensuremath{\omega}$ of thermostat oscillators which contribute to Ek{E}_{k}Ek​ according to the probability distribution $\mathbb{P}(\ensuremath{\omega})$. We explore the impact of various dissipation mechanisms, via the Drude, Gaussian, algebraic, and Debye spectral density functions, on the characteristic features of $\mathbb{P}(\ensuremath{\omega})$. The role of the system-thermostat coupling strength and the memory time on the most probable thermostat oscillator frequency as well as the kinetic energy Ek{E}_{k}Ek​ of the Brownian particle is analyzed.
The dynamics of an open quantum system in the high-temperature regime of the Caldeira-Leggett model using a Bohmian language is investigated. By expressing the density matrix in polar form, generalized continuity and Hamilton-Jacobi equations are obtained. Thermal effects appear explicitly in the former, while they influence the latter only indirectly through an effective potential. Remarkably, the effective potential does not vanish in the classical limit and cannot, in general, be decomposed into simple additive quantum and thermal contributions. Instead, it retains a nontrivial structure leading to a residual temperature dependence in the resulting dynamics. As a consequence, the resulting temperature-dependent-classical trajectories remain deterministic even in the presence of a thermal environment. This behavior contrasts with the stochastic dynamics observed in the Langevin description and reflects the ensemble-based nature of the present approach. To further explore the quantum-to-classical transition, a scaled version of the Caldeira-Leggett equation is introduced by scaling both the density matrix and Planck constant through a quantumness parameter. This parameter takes the value one in the fully quantum regime and smoothly approaches zero in the classical limit. Applications to Gaussian states demonstrate a gradual suppression of coherence and interference, governed jointly by thermal effects and the transition parameter.
We address the possibility of performing numerical Monte Carlo simulations for the thermodynamics of quantum dissipative systems. Dissipation is considered within the Caldeira-Leggett formulation, which describes the system in the path-integral formalism through the inclusion of an influence action that is bilocal and quadratic in the system's coordinates. At a first sight the usual direct approach of discretizing the path integral could seem feasible, but complications arise when one tries to introduce a physically meaningful dissipation kernel: in particular its imaginary-time dependence turns out to be severely singular and difficult to evaluate analytically, in spite of the simple expressions for its Matsubara components. We therefore propose to face the numerical problem using Fourier path-integral Monte Carlo, that can be formulated in two different ways: transforming the continuous paths and then truncating the high Fourier components (with possible improvements upon the truncation procedure), or performing the Fourier transformation upon the discretized paths. The latter choice leads to a simpler formulation and allows for a better control of the extrapolation to the limit of infinite Trotter number. The method is implemented for a single nonlinear particle with Ohmic dissipation and for a phi(4) chain with Drude-like dissipation.
Using the quantum effective action in the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism, we derive quantum-thermal corrections to the semiclassical dynamics of a dissipative system described by a macroscopic degree of freedom. We discuss the connection with the Ehrenfest theorem and, within the local potential approximation, obtain the corrections in closed form for arbitrary temperature and damping, showing that as the temperature increases, they cross over from purely quantum to purely thermal. In the low-temperature and weak-damping regime, corrections are set by the zero-point energy of fluctuations evaluated at the classical underdamped frequency, closely paralleling the conservative case, which allows us to go to higher order in the derivative expansion. We apply these general results to the resistively and capacitively shunted superconducting Josephson junction and to an elongated bosonic junction, where corrections can reach the percent level under realistic conditions.
Abstract We address the possibility of performing numerical Monte Carlo simulations for the thermodynamics of quantum dissipative systems. Dissipation is considered within the Caldeira–Leggett formulation, which describes the system in the path‐integral formalism through the inclusion of an influence action that is bilocal and quadratic in the system's coordinates. At a first sight the usual direct approach of discretizing the path integral could seem feasible, but complications arise when one tries to introduce a physically meaningful dissipation kernel: in particular its imaginary‐time dependence turns out to be severely singular and difficult to evaluate analytically, in spite of the simple expressions for its Matsubara components. We therefore propose to face the numerical problem using Fourier path‐integral Monte Carlo, that can be formulated in two different ways: transforming the continuous paths and then truncating the high Fourier components (with possible improvements upon the truncation procedure), or performing the Fourier transformation upon the discretized paths. The latter choice leads to a simpler formulation and allows for a better control of the extrapolation to the limit of infinite Trotter number. The method is implemented for a single nonlinear particle with Ohmic dissipation and for a ϕ4 chain with Drude‐like dissipation.