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arXiv:hep-th/0211004 · Journal of the Korean Physical Society

Liouville-Von Neumann Approach and Time-Dependent Gaussian Approximation

Hyeong-Chan Kim, Jae Hyung Yee

Published Nov 15, 2003• 0 citations
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Abstract

We show that Liouville-von Neumann approach to quantum mechanical systems, which demands the existence of invariant operators, reproduces the time-dependent variational Gaussian approximation. We find the effective action of the time-dependent systems and show that many aspects of the dynamics are independent of the details of time evolution, e.g., the squeezing of the wave-function is determined by the effective potential of the final stage of time-evolution.

DOI
10.3938/jkps.43.670

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We show that Liouville-von Neumann approach to quantum mechanical systems, which demands the existence of invariant operators, reproduces the time-dependent variational Gaussian approximation. We find the effective action of the time-dependent systems and show that many aspects of the dynamics are independent of the details of time evolution, e.g., the squeezing of the wave-function is determined by the effective potential of the final stage of time-evolution.
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We develop methodology for performing time dependent quantum mechanical calculations by representing the wave function as a sum of Gaussian wave packets (GWP) each characterized by a set of parameters such as width, position, momentum, and phase. The problem of computing the time evolution of the wave function is thus reduced to that of finding the time evolution of the parameters in the Gaussians. This parameter motion is determined by minimizing the error made by replacing the exact wave function in the time dependent Schrödinger equation with its Gaussian representation approximant. This leads to first order differential equations for the time dependence of the parameters, and those describing the packet position and the momentum of each packet have some resemblance with the classical equations of motion. The paper studies numerically the strategy needed to achieve the best GWP representation of time dependent processes. The issues discussed are the representation of the initial wave function, the numerical stability and the solution of the differential equations giving the evolution of the parameters, and the analysis of the final wave function. Extensive comparisons are made with an approximate method which assumes that the Gaussians are independent and their width is smaller than the length scale over which the potential changes. This approximation greatly simplifies the calculations and has the advantage of a greater resemblance to classical mechanics, thus being more intuitive. We find, however, that its range of applications is limited to problems involving localized degrees of freedom that participate in the dynamic process for a very short time. Finally we give particular attention to the notion that the GWP representation of the wave function reduces the dynamics of one quantum degree of freedom to that of a set of pseudoparticles (each represented by one packet) moving according to a pseudoclassical (i.e., classical-like) mechanics whose ‘‘phase space’’ is described by a position and momentum as well as a complex phase and width.
\n\nUsing the ABCD formalism of atom optics, the generating function method and the invariant operator method (Liouville-von Neumann picture), I show in this letter how the quantum time evolution of any wave packet can be entirely determined by a natural symplectic invariant, which provides both the (non-Hermitian) invariant operator and the adequate eigenvalue. Within this framework, the quantum propagator does not appear any more as the fundamental kernel of integration but merely as a particular property of this invariant operator. The symplectic invariant method is interpreted in terms of creation/annihilation operators of N-dimensional Hermite-Gaussian modes.\n
Explicitly time-dependent Hamiltonians are ubiquitous in applications of quantum theory. It is therefore necessary to solve the time-dependent Schrödinger equation directly. The system’s dynamics is associated with a unitary time-evolution operator (a propagator), formally given as an infinite Dyson series. Time-dependent observables are invariant under unitary time-dependent transformations, where it is sometimes useful to transform the time-evolution from the states into the corresponding operators. This is carried out in part (in full) by transforming to the interaction (Heisenberg) picture. The corresponding equations of motion for the time-dependent operators are introduced. For quadratic potential energy functions, the time evolution of quantum expectation values coincides with the corresponding classical dynamics. This is demonstrated and analyzed in detail for Gaussian wave packets and a coherent state. Finally, we derive exact and approximate expressions for time-dependent transition probabilities and transition rates between quantum states. The validity of time-dependent perturbation theory is analyzed by comparison to exact dynamics.