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arXiv:quant-ph/0202095

Continuous Unitary Transformations

Vladimir L. Safonov

Published Feb 18, 2002• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In the present time we observe a growing number of publications where the, so-called, flow equations are successfully used to diagonalize Hamiltonians by means of an appropriate unitary transformation. Here we discuss and compare the flow equations (FE) method (proposed in 1994) with the method of one step continuous unitary transformations (OS CUT) (proposed in 1982). It is shown that the FE method can be considered as a generalization of the OS CUT approach to the case of parameter dependent generator. The OS CUT method gives linear differential equations for the diagonalization procedure. In the FE method the system of differential equations is nonlinear. Finally we discuss the generalization of idea of continuous unitary transformations for the case of quantum equations of motion (Heisenberg picture and density matrix).

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0202095

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In the present time we observe a growing number of publications where the, so-called, flow equations are successfully used to diagonalize Hamiltonians by means of an appropriate unitary transformation. Here we discuss and compare the flow equations (FE) method (proposed in 1994) with the method of one step continuous unitary transformations (OS CUT) (proposed in 1982). It is shown that the FE method can be considered as a generalization of the OS CUT approach to the case of parameter dependent generator. The OS CUT method gives linear differential equations for the diagonalization procedure. In the FE method the system of differential equations is nonlinear. Finally we discuss the generalization of idea of continuous unitary transformations for the case of quantum equations of motion (Heisenberg picture and density matrix).
Accepted for publication in European Physical Journal Continuous unitary transformations can be used to diagonalize or approximately diagonalize a given Hamiltonian. In the last four years, this method has been applied to a variety of models of condensed matter physics and field theory. With a new generator for the continuous unitary transformation proposed in this paper one can avoid some of the problems of former applications. General properties of the new generator are derived. It turns out that the new generator is especially useful for Hamiltonians with a banded structure. Two examples, the Lipkin model, and the spin–boson model are discussed in detail. PACS-Numbers: 03.65.-w, 02.70.Hm, 31.15.+q, 21.60.-n 1 E–mail:
Continuous unitary transformations are a powerful tool to extract valuable information out of quantum many-body Hamiltonians, in which the so-called flow equation transforms the Hamiltonian to a diagonal or block-diagonal form in second quantization. Yet, one of their main challenges is how to approximate the infinitely-many coupled differential equations that are produced throughout this flow. Here we show that tensor networks offer a natural and non-perturbative truncation scheme in terms of entanglement. The corresponding scheme is called “entanglement-CUT” or eCUT. It can be used to extract the low-energy physics of quantum many-body Hamiltonians, including quasiparticle energy gaps. We provide the general idea behind eCUT and explain its implementation for finite 1d systems using the formalism of matrix product operators. We also present proof-of-principle results for the spin-(1/2) 1d quantum Ising model and the 3-state quantum Potts model in a transverse field. Entanglement-CUTs can also be generalized to higher dimensions and to the thermodynamic limit.
We use a novel parametrization of the flowing Hamiltonian to show that the flow equations based on continuous unitary transformations, as proposed by Wegner, can be implemented through a nonlinear partial differential equation involving one flow parameter and two system specific auxiliary variables. The implementation is non-perturbative as the partial differential equation involves a systematic expansion in fluctuations, controlled by the size of the system, rather than the coupling constant. The method is applied to the Lipkin model to construct a mapping which maps the non-interacting spectrum onto the interacting spectrum to a very high accuracy. This function is universal in the sense that the full spectrum for any (large) number of particles can be obtained from it. In a similar way expectation values for a large class of operators can be obtained, which also makes it possible to probe the structure of the eigenstates.
Abstract The Wegner flow equation is a differential equation for a family of Hamiltonians and can be considered as a continuous unitary transformation. In essence, the transformation continuously decouples degrees of freedom and gradually converts the transformed Hamiltonian into the near-diagonal form. The Wegner flow equation has so far been applied to many areas of physics, but mainly in perturbative calculations. However, the exact solutions are known only for the simplest of two-dimensional case and this certainly limits the practical application of the method. On the other hand, the knowledge of exact solutions is essential for many physical problems as well as it can help in constructing improved approximated approaches. In this paper we present the exact solution of the Wegner flow equation with the Mielke generator for 3 × 3 Hermitian matrices, the general solutions for N × N tridiagonal Hermitian matrices and partially for 4 × 4 real symmetric matrices.
We generalize the theory of flow equations to open quantum systems focusing on Lindblad master equations. We introduce and discuss three different generators of the flow that transform a linear non-Hermitian operator into a diagonal one. We first test our dissipative flow equations on a generic matrix and on a physical problem with a driven-dissipative single fermionic mode. We then move to problems with many fermionic modes and discuss the interplay between coherent (disordered) dynamics and localized losses. Our method can also be applied to non-Hermitian Hamiltonians.