Evaluation of Hamiltonians from Complex Symplectic Matrices

Abstract

Gaussian unitaries play a fundamental role in the field of continuous variables. In the general n mode, they may formulated by a second-order polynomial in the bosonic operators. Another important role related to Gaussian unitaries is played by the symplectic transformations in the phase space. The paper investigates the links between the two representations: the link from Hamiltonian to symplectic, governed by an exponential, and the link from symplectic to Hamiltonian, governed by a logarithm. Thus, an answer is given to the non-trivial question: which Hamiltonian produces a given symplectic representation? The complex instead of the traditional real symplectic representation is considered, with the advantage of getting compact and elegant relations. The application to the single, two, and three modes illustrates the theory.