The short-time dynamics of a quantum Brownian particle in a harmonic potential is studied in phase space. An exact non-Markovian analytic approach to calculate the time evolution of the Wigner function is presented. The dynamics of the Wigner function of an initially squeezed state is analysed. It is shown that virtual exchanges of energy between the particle and the reservoir, characterizing the non-Lindblad short-time dynamics where system–reservoir correlations are not negligible, show up in phase space.
The short-time dynamics of a quantum Brownian particle in a harmonic potential is studied in phase space. An exact non-Markovian analytic approach to calculate the time evolution of the Wigner function is presented. The dynamics of the Wigner function of an initially squeezed state is analysed. It is shown that virtual exchanges of energy between the particle and the reservoir, characterizing the non-Lindblad short-time dynamics where system–reservoir correlations are not negligible, show up in phase space.
The dynamics of a typical open quantum system, namely a quantum Brownian particle in a harmonic potential, is studied focusing on its non-Markovian regime. Both an analytic approach and a stochastic wave-function approach are used to describe the exact time evolution of the system. The border between two very different dynamical regimes, the Lindblad and non-Lindblad regimes, is identified and the relevant physical variables governing the passage from one regime to the other are singled out. The non-Markovian short-time dynamics is studied in detail by looking at the mean energy, the squeezing, the Mandel parameter, and the Wigner function of the system.
In this Thesis I discuss the dynamics of the quantum Brownian motion model in harmonic potential. This paradigmatic model has an exact solution, making it possible to consider also analytically the non-Markovian dynamics. The issues covered in this Thesis are themed around decoherence. First, I consider decoherence as the mediator of quantum-to-classical transition. I examine five different definitions for nonclassicality of quantum states, and show how each definition gives qualitatively different times for the onset of classicality. In particular I have found that all characterizations of nonclassicality, apart from one based on the interference term in the Wigner function, result in a finite, rather than asymptotic, time for the emergence of classicality. Second, I examine the diverse effects which coupling to a non-Markovian, structured reservoir, has on our system. By comparing different types of Ohmic reservoirs, I derive some general conclusions on the role of the reservoir spectrum in both the short-time and the thermalization dynamics. Finally, I apply these results to two schemes for decoherence control. Both of the methods are based on the non-Markovian properties of the dynamics.
We establish that the exact quantum dynamics of a Brownian particle in the Caldeira-Leggett model, with at most quadratic external potential, can be mapped, at any temperature, onto a classical, non-Markovian stochastic process in phase space. Starting from a correlated thermal equilibrium state between the particle and bath, we demonstrate that this correspondence is exact for quadratic potentials under arbitrary quantum state preparations of the particle itself. Our approach allows to consider arbitrary initial quantum states - including highly non-classical superpositions - which are incorporated via their Wigner functions, which serve as statistical weights for trajectory ensembles. Furthermore, the formalism naturally accommodates external manipulations and measurements modeled by preparation functions acting at arbitrary times, enabling the simulation of complex driven-dissipative quantum protocols. For more general, smooth potentials, we identify a natural small parameter: the density matrix becomes strongly quasidiagonal in the coordinate representation, with its off-diagonal width shrinking as the bath's spectral cutoff increases, suggesting a controlled parameter for a possible approximation.
We analyze the microscopic model of quantum Brownian motion, describing a Brownian particle interacting with a bosonic bath through a coupling which is linear in the creation and annihilation operators of the bath, but may be a nonlinear function of the position of the particle. Physically, this corresponds to a configuration in which damping and diffusion are spatially inhomogeneous. We derive systematically the quantum master equation for the Brownian particle in the Born-Markov approximation and we discuss the appearance of additional terms, for various polynomials forms of the coupling. We discuss the cases of linear and quadratic coupling in great detail and we derive, using Wigner function techniques, the stationary solutions of the master equation for a Brownian particle in a harmonic trapping potential. We predict quite generally Gaussian stationary states, and we compute the aspect ratio and the spread of the distributions. In particular, we find that these solutions may be squeezed (superlocalized) with respect to the position of the Brownian particle. We analyze various restrictions to the validity of our theory posed by non-Markovian effects and by the Heisenberg principle. We further study the dynamical stability of the system, by applying a Gaussian approximation to the time-dependent Wigner function, and we compute the decoherence rates of coherent quantum superpositions in position space. Finally, we propose a possible experimental realization of the physics discussed here, by considering an impurity particle embedded in a degenerate quantum gas.
A particle subjected to a fluctuating force originated from its interaction with an external quantum system undergoes quantum Brownian motion. This phenomenon is investigated in detail for the case of a particle confined by a harmonic potential and allowed to interact with a reservoir modeled as a continuum of oscillators, with particular emphasis on transient effects. Assuming a linear coupling between the particle and the reservoir, canonical quantization of the system is implemented, and analytical expressions for the quantum correlations are derived. These correlations are then applied to analyze energy conservation, and the particle Brownian motion is characterized from the perspective of the energy extracted from the reservoir.
Recent progress in our understanding of quantum effects on the Brownian motion in an external potential is reviewed. This problem is ubiquitous in physics and chemistry, particularly in the context of decay of metastable states, for example, the reversal of the magnetization of a single domain ferromagnetic particle, kinetics of a superconducting tunnelling junction, etc. Emphasis is laid on the establishment of master equations describing the diffusion process in phase space analogous to the classical Fokker-Planck equation. In particular, it is shown how Wigner's [E. P. Wigner, Phys. Rev., 1932, 40, 749] method of obtaining quantum corrections to the classical equilibrium Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution may be extended to the dissipative non-equilibrium dynamics governing the quantum Brownian motion in an external potential V(x), yielding a master equation for the Wigner distribution function W(x,p,t) in phase space (x,p). The explicit form of the master equation so obtained contains quantum correction terms up to o(h(4)) and in the classical limit, h --> 0, reduces to the classical Klein-Kramers equation. For a quantum oscillator, the method yields an evolution equation coinciding in all respects with that of Agarwal [G. S. Agarwal, Phys. Rev. A, 1971, 4, 739]. In the high dissipation limit, the master equation reduces to a semi-classical Smoluchowski equation describing non-inertial quantum diffusion in configuration space. The Wigner function formulation of quantum Brownian motion is further illustrated by finding quantum corrections to the Kramers escape rate, which, in appropriate limits, reduce to those yielded via quantum generalizations of reaction rate theory.