Agreement of stochastic soliton formalism with second-quantized and configuration-space models

Abstract

The stochastic theory presented by Drummond, Gardiner, and Walls [Phys. Rev. A 24, 914 (1981)] is an interesting approach to problems in quantum optics. In this theory, an exact, quantum evolution is written in terms of classical functions (not operators) driven by explicit, quantum noise. We examine the origin of uncertainty in the formalism through the simple example of a single, nonlinear oscillator. We then test the stochastic theory applied to the problem of soliton propagation. We extend the linearized stochastic model by computing analytically quantum uncertainties in the four basic soliton parameters: photon number, momentum, phase, and position. Agreement with second-quantized and configuration-space soliton theories verifies the stochastic formalism.