Bath Of Harmonic Oscillators Research Articles

A Lie Symmetry Analysis of the Caldeira-Leggett Model

An important model in the theory of open quantum systems is the Caldeira-Leggett quantum Brownian motion model for the behaviour of a massive quantum particle weakly interacting with a bath of harmonic oscillators. The model is formulated in terms of a (1 + 2) dimensional partial differential equation (PDE) for the reduced density matrix of the particle. In this paper we analyze this PDE from the perspective of Lie symmetry groups. A Lie point symmetry analysis is performed and a number of canonical reductions are obtained. Of note are new analytic solutions to the model obtained by mapping the model to the linear diffusion equation.

Justification of the “symmetric damping” model of the dynamical Casimir effect in a cavity with a semiconductor mirror*

A "microscopic" justification of the "symmetric damping" model of a quantum oscillator with time-dependent frequency and time-dependent damping is given. This model is used to predict results of experiments on simulating the dynamical Casimir effect in a cavity with a photo-excited semiconductor mirror. It is shown that the most general bilinear time-dependent coupling of a selected oscillator (field mode) to a bath of harmonic oscillators results in two equal friction coefficients for the both quadratures, provided all the coupling coefficients are proportional to a single arbitrary function of time whose duration is much shorter than the periods of all oscillators. The choice of coupling in the rotating wave approximation form leads to the "mimimum noise" model of the quantum damped oscillator, introduced earlier in a pure phenomenological way.

Entanglement, decoherence, and dynamics of a two-state system

Entanglement and decoherence arguably define the central issues of concern in present day quantum information theory. Decoherence occurs when a system interacts with its environment in an irreversible way; this prevents the quantum superposition of the system + environment's wavefunction from interfering with each other. A better understanding of environment-induced destruction of coherent superposition states is needed, as well as a clear description of the degree of entanglement between the quantum system and its environment. We quantitatively establish a correspondence between entanglement, decoherence, and spin dynamics for a two-state system coupled to a bath of harmonic oscillators, resulting in the celebrated spin-boson model. Applications to solid-state and cold atomic systems are also discussed.

Simulation of four-wave mixing signals by a perturbative approach: Application to ultrafast two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy

We propose an alternative method for the calculation of the phase-matched contributions, which are responsible for the third-order optical signals measured in four-wave mixing experiments. In particular, we extend the strong field dissipation theory of Meier and Tannor [J. Chem. Phys. 111, 3365 (1999)] to the case of a perturbative treatment with respect to the exciting laser fields. Our approach is based on an analytical expression of the third-order density matrix and hence it does not require to verify numerically the irrelevance of higher order terms or the calculation of a spatial Fourier transform. In order to illustrate this method, we simulate the experimental signal measured in femtosecond two-dimensional infrared (2D-IR) vibrational spectroscopy. We consider an intramolecular anharmonic vibrational mode modeled by a Morse potential and coupled to a dissipative bath of harmonic oscillators. We calculate the 2D-IR correlation spectrum and we discuss the influence of the population decay on the line shapes. In particular, we compare two situations, one where only pure dephasing processes are considered, and another one where phase losses due to population relaxation are also taken into account. We show that the shape of the peaks observed in a 2D-IR correlation spectrum differs in these two cases, and therefore this difference appears as a signature of population decay and gives information on the importance of pure dephasing processes in phase loss mechanisms.

Numerical and analytical approach to the quantum dynamics of two coupled spins in bosonic baths

The quantum dynamics of a spin chain interacting with multiple bosonic baths is described in a mixed Wigner-Heisenberg representation. The formalism is illustrated by simulating the time evolution of the reduced density matrix of two coupled spins, where each spin is also coupled to its own bath of harmonic oscillators. In order to prove the validity of the approach, an analytical solution in the Born-Markov approximation is found. The agreement between the two methods is shown.

Recent progress in open quantum systems: Non‐Gaussian noise and decoherence in fermionic systems

AbstractWe review our recent contributions to two topics that have become of interest in the field of open, dissipative quantum systems: non‐Gaussian noise and decoherence in fermionic systems. Decoherence by non‐Gaussian noise, i.e. by an environment that cannot be approximated as a bath of harmonic oscillators, is important in nanostructures (e.g. qubits) where there might be strong coupling to a small number of fluctuators. We first revisit the pedagogical example of dephasing by classical telegraph noise. Then we address two models where the quantum nature of the noise becomes essential: “quantum telegraph noise” and dephasing by electronic shot noise. In fermionic systems, many‐body aspects and the Pauli principle have to be taken care of when describing the loss of phase coherence. This is relevant in electronic quantum transport through metallic and semiconducting structures. Specifically, we recount our recent results regarding dephasing in a chiral interacting electron liquid, as it is realized in the electronic Mach–Zehnder interferometer. This model can be solved employing the technique of bosonization as well as a physically transparent semiclassical method (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Robust coherent preparation of entangled states of two coupled flux qubits via dynamic control of the transition frequencies

Coherent control and the creation of entangled states are discussed in a system of two superconducting flux qubits interacting with each other through their mutual inductance and identically coupling to a reservoir of harmonic oscillators. We present different schemes using continuous-wave control fields or Stark-chirped rapid adiabatic passages, both of which rely on a dynamic control of the qubit transition frequencies via the external bias flux in order to maximize the fidelity of the target states. For comparison, also special area pulse schemes are discussed. The qubits are operated around the optimum point, and decoherence is modeled via a bath of harmonic oscillators. As our main result, a coherent control scheme is presented which is robust against imperfections in the driving fields, and that enables one to prepare different Bell states consisting of the collective ground and excited states of the two-qubit system.

System-bath entanglement in quantum thermodynamics

We consider a quantum harmonic oscillator linearly coupled to a bath of harmonic oscillators and evaluate the degree of entanglement between system and bath using the negativity as an exact entanglement measure. We establish the existence of a critical temperature above which the system-bath negativity vanishes. Our results imply that system-bath entanglement is not responsible for the violation of the Clausius inequality observed in the low temperature/strong coupling regime [Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 1799 (2000)], as the latter still occurs well above the critical temperature.

Decoherence by quantum telegraph noise: A numerical evaluation

We investigate the time evolution of a charge qubit subject to quantum telegraph noise produced by a single electronic defect level. We obtain results for the time evolution of the coherence that are strikingly different from the usual case of a harmonic-oscillator bath (Gaussian noise). When the coupling strength crosses a certain temperature-dependent threshold, we observe coherence oscillations in the strong-coupling regime. Moreover, we present the time evolution of the echo signal in a spin-echo experiment. Our analysis relies on a numerical evaluation of the exact solution for the density matrix of the qubit.

Landau–Zener tunnelling in dissipative circuit QED

We investigate the influence of temperature and dissipation on the Landau–Zener transition probability in circuit QED. Dissipation is modelled by coupling the transmission line to a bath of harmonic oscillators, and the reduced density operator is treated within Bloch–Redfield theory. A phase-space representation allows an efficient numerical implementation of the resulting master equation. It provides reliable results which are valid even for rather low temperatures. We find that the spin-flip probability as a function of temperature and dissipation strength exhibits a non-monotonic behaviour. Our numerical results are complemented by analytical solutions for zero temperature and for vanishing dissipation strength.

Finite quantum dissipation: the challenge of obtaining specific heat

We consider a free particle coupled with finite strength to a bath and investigate the evaluation of its specific heat. A harmonic oscillator bath of Drude type with cutoff frequency ωD is employed to model an ohmic friction force with dissipation strength γ. Two scenarios for obtaining specific heat are presented. The first one uses the measurement of the kinetic energy of the free particle, while the second one is based on the reduced partition function. Both descriptions yield results which are consistent with the Third Law of thermodynamics. Nevertheless, the two methods produce different results that disagree even in their leading quantum corrections at high temperatures. We also consider the regime where the cutoff frequency is smaller than the friction strength, i.e. ωD< γ. There, we encounter puzzling results at low temperatures where the specific heat based on the thermodynamic prescription becomes negative. This anomaly is rooted in an ill-defined density of states of the damped free particle, which assumes unphysical negative values when γ/ωD> 1.

Exploring the Effects of Intramolecular Vibrational Energy Redistribution on the Operation of the Proton Wire in Green Fluorescent Protein

The operation of the proton wire in Green Fluorescent Protein has been simulated by quantum dynamics and considering the coupling to the protein environment by means of a bath of harmonic oscillators. The simulation consists of 36 explicit and fully quantum degrees of freedom: 6 degrees of freedom represent the configuration of the proton wire, which are coupled to 30 bath coordinates. Regimes of weak and strong coupling have been studied. It is found that presence of the bath induces a fast energy transfer from the proton wire to the bath, with characteristic times under 400 fs. This internal vibrational redistribution happens at the expense of the potential energy content of the proton wire, deformed through the interaction to the bath from its uncoupled state. Strong coupling induces a slowing-down of the operation of the wire because it hinders to some extent the approaching of donor and acceptor atoms to distances in which proton transfer can occur. Internal vibrational energy redistribution affects the dynamics, but from our simulations we conclude that it cannot be the only cause responsible for the experimentally reported fluorescence rise times.

Exact master equation for a noncommutative Brownian particle

We derive the Hu–Paz–Zhang master equation for a Brownian particle linearly coupled to a bath of harmonic oscillators on the plane with spatial noncommutativity. The results obtained are exact to all orders in the noncommutative parameter. As a by-product we derive some miscellaneous results such as the equilibrium Wigner distribution for the reservoir of noncommutative oscillators, the weak coupling limit of the master equation and a set of sufficient conditions for strict purity decrease of the Brownian particle. Finally, we consider a high-temperature Ohmic model and obtain an estimate for the time scale of the transition from noncommutative to ordinary quantum mechanics. This scale is considerably smaller than the decoherence scale.

Thermalisation by a boson bath in a pure state

We consider a quantum system weakly coupled to a large heat bath of harmonic oscillators. It is well known that such a boson bath initially at thermal equilibrium thermalises the system. We show that assuming a priori an equilibrium state is not necessary to obtain the thermalisation of the system. We determine the complete Schrödinger time evolution of the subsystem of interest for an initial pure product state of the composite system consisting of the considered system and the bath. We find that the system relaxes into canonical equilibrium for almost all initial pure bath states of macroscopically well-defined energy. The temperature of the system asymptotic thermal state is determined by the energy of the initial bath state as the corresponding microcanonical temperature. Moreover, the time evolution of the system is identical to the one obtained assuming that the boson bath is initially at thermal equilibrium at this temperature. A significant part of our approach is applicable to other baths and we identify the bath features which are requisite for the thermalisation.

Phase diffusion in quantum dissipative systems

We study the dynamics of the quantum phase distribution associated with the reduced density matrix of a system for a number of situations of practical importance, as the system evolves under the influence of its environment, interacting via a quantum nondemolition type of coupling, such that there is decoherence without dissipation, as well as when it interacts via a dissipative interaction, resulting in decoherence as well as dissipation. The system is taken to be either a two-level atom (or, equivalently, a spin-$1∕2$ system) or a harmonic oscillator, and the environment is modeled as a bath of harmonic oscillators, starting out in a squeezed thermal state. The impact of the different environmental parameters on the dynamics of the quantum phase distribution for the system starting out in various initial states is explicitly brought out. An interesting feature that emerges from our work is that the relationship between squeezing and temperature effects depends on the type of system-bath interaction. In the case of a quantum nondemolition type of interaction, squeezing and temperature work in tandem, producing a diffusive effect on the phase distribution. In contrast, in the case of a dissipative interaction, the influence of temperature can be counteracted by squeezing, which manifests as a resistance to randomization of phase. We make use of the phase distributions to bring out a notion of complementarity in atomic systems. We also study the variance of the phase using phase distributions conditioned on particular initial states of the system.

Dynamical localization of a particle coupled to a two-level system thermal reservoir

Using the functional-integral method, we investigate the effect of a two-level systems thermal reservoir on the single particle dynamics. We find that at low temperatures, within the sub-ohmic regime, the particle becomes ``dynamically'' localized at long times due to an effective potential generated by the particle-reservoir interaction. This behavior is different from the one obtained for the usual bath of harmonic oscillators and is fundamentally related with the non-Markovian character of the dissipative process.

Generalization of the Förster resonance energy transfer theory for quantum mechanical modulation of the donor-acceptor coupling

The Forster resonance energy transfer theory is generalized for inelastic situations with quantum mechanical modulation of the donor-acceptor coupling. Under the assumption that the modulations are independent of the electronic excitation of the donor and the acceptor, a general rate expression is derived, which involves two dimensional frequency-domain convolution of the donor emission line shape, the acceptor absorption line shape, and the spectral density of the modulation of the donor-acceptor coupling. For two models of modulation, detailed rate expressions are derived. The first model is the fluctuation of the donor-acceptor distance, approximated as a quantum harmonic oscillator coupled to a bath of other quantum harmonic oscillators. The distance fluctuation results in additional terms in the rate, which in the small fluctuation limit depend on the inverse eighth power of the donor-acceptor distance. The second model is the fluctuation of the torsional angle between the two transition dipoles, which is modeled as a quantum harmonic oscillator coupled to a bath of quantum harmonic oscillators and causes sinusoidal modulation of the donor-acceptor coupling. The rate expression has new elastic and inelastic terms, depending sensitively on the value of the minimum energy torsional angle. Experimental implications of the present theory and some of the open theoretical issues are discussed.

Dynamics of decoherence without dissipation in a squeezed thermal bath

We study a generic open quantum system where the coupling between the system and its environment is of an energy-preserving quantum nondemolition (QND) type. We obtain the general master equation for the evolution of such a system under the influence of a squeezed thermal bath of harmonic oscillators. From the master equation it can be seen explicitly that the process involves decoherence or dephasing without any dissipation of energy. We work out the decoherence-causing term in the high- and zero-temperature limits and check that they match with known results for the case of a thermal bath. The decay of the coherence is quantified as well by the dynamics of the linear entropy of the system under various environmental conditions. We make a comparison of the quantum statistical properties between QND and dissipative types of evolution using a two-level atomic system and a harmonic oscillator.

Effects of permanent dipole moments in transient four-wave mixing experiments

A two-pulse degenerate four-wave mixing experiment is analyzed in the case where the medium under investigation can be modeled by two-level systems having unequal permanent dipole moments. By modeling the light pulses by double exponentials [exp(-Gamma/t/)], we give an analytical expression of the third-order nonlinear polarization of the medium. We apply this result to simulate the measured signal in such experiment. We show that in the case of a two-photon transition, a signal can be detected if the pump pulse interacts with the medium before the probe pulse contrary to what is observed for excitations in the resonance region. An attempt to explain this behavior is made and the detected signal is analyzed in terms of pure coherent processes. This effect appears as a signature of the presence of permanent dipole moments. To test this property on a more realistic system, we then have considered a one-dimensional frequency-selected infrared degenerate four-wave mixing experiment on a molecular anharmonic vibrational mode modeled by a Morse potential and coupled to a dissipative bath of harmonic oscillators. We show that the two-photon transitions allowed by the presence of permanent dipole moments enable to analyze the multilevel system dynamics as if they were the one of a two-level system. Our results can also be extended to the case of inhomogeneous broadening and are of interest to study the infrared photon-echo response of anharmonic vibrational modes.

Erratum: “Two Dimensional Spectroscopy for Harmonic Vibrational Modes with Nonlinear System–Bath Interactions: I. Gaussian-White Case”

The quantum Fokker-Planck equation is derived for a system nonlinearly coupled to a harmonic oscillator bath. The system-bath interaction is assumed to be linear in the bath coordinates but quadratic in the system coordinate. The relaxation induced dynamics of a harmonic system are investigated by simulating the higher-order correlation functions of the Raman polarizability and the dipole moment, which represent the nonlinear optical responses of Raman or infrared spectroscopy. The 5th-order Raman response shows that, in addition to the frequency fluctuations induced by the bath, higher-order energy transfer between the system and bath plays a role. The nonlinearity of the system-bath interaction yields also an interesting feature in the 7th-order Raman echo or the 3rd-order infrared photon echo response: The calculations predict a finite signal for the case of a harmonic potential and a linear coordinate dependence of the polarizability or dipole while for linear system-bath coupling this response vanishes completely due to destructive interference of different Liouville space pathways.