Physical approach to quantum networks with massive particles

Abstract

This paper treats a quantum network from a physical approach, explicitly finds the physical eigenstates and compares them to the quantum-graph description. The basic building block of a quantum network is an X-shaped potential well made by crossing two quantum wires, and we consider a massive particle in such an X well. The system is analyzed using a variational method based on an expansion into modes with fast convergence and it provides a very clear intuition for the physics of the problem. The particle is found to have a ground state that is exponentially localized to the center of the X well, and the other symmetric solutions are formed so to be orthogonal to the ground state. This is in contrast to the predictions of the conventionally used so-called Kirchoff boundary conditions in quantum graph theory that predict a different sequence of symmetric solutions that cannot be physically realized. Numerical methods have previously been the only source of information on the ground-state wave function and our results provide a different perspective with strong analytical insights. The ground-state wave function has the shape of a solitonic solution to the non-linear Schr{\"o}dinger equation, enabling an analytical prediction of the wave number. When combining multiple X wells into a network or grid, each site supports a solitonic localized state. The solitons only couple to each other and are able to jump from one site to another as if they were trapped in a discrete lattice.