In this paper we analyze the double Caldeira-Leggett model: the path integral approach to two interacting dissipative harmonic oscillators. Assuming a general form of the interaction between the oscillators, we consider two different situations: i) when each oscillator is coupled to its own reservoir, and ii) when both oscillators are coupled to a common reservoir. After deriving and solving the master equation for each case, we analyze the decoherence process of particular entanglements in the positional space of both oscillators. To analyze the decoherence mechanism we have derived a general decay function for the off-diagonal peaks of the density matrix, which applies both to a common and separate reservoirs. We have also identified the expected interaction between the two dissipative oscillators induced by their common reservoir. Such reservoir-induced interaction, which gives rise to interesting collective damping effects, such as the emergence of relaxation- and decoherence-free subspaces, is shown to be blurred by the high-temperature regime considered in this study. However, we find that different interactions between the dissipative oscillators, described by rotating or counter-rotating terms, result in different decay rates for the interference terms of the density matrix.
We provide an explicit analytical calculation that shows the asymptotic approach of the one dimensional Caldeira-Leggett model to thermal equilibrium in the high temperature and weak coupling limit. We investigate a free particle and a harmonic oscillator system, using both the Lindblad and the non-Lindblad type master equations for each case, and show that thermal equilibrium is reached exactly for the free particle and aproximately for the harmonic oscillator, irrespective of the initial preparation of the system. We also generalize our calculation to higher dimensions.
The Caldeira-Leggett master equation as an example of Markovian master equation without Lindblad form is investigated for mathematical consistency. We explore situations both analytically and numerically where the positivity violations of the density operator occur. We reinforce some known knowledge about this problem but also find new surprising cases. Our analytical results are based on the full solution of the Caldeira-Leggett master equation obtained via the method of characteristics. The preservation of positivity is mainly investigated with the help of the density operator's purity and w…
Exact solutions of the Caldeira-Leggett Master equation for the reduced density matrix for a free particle and for a harmonic oscillator system coupled to a heat bath of oscillators are obtained for arbitrary initial conditions. The solutions prove that the Fourier transform of the density matrix at time t with respect to (x + x')/2, where x and x' are the initial and final coordinates, factorizes exactly into a part depending linearly on the initial density matrix and a part independent of it. The theorem yields the exact initial state dependence of the density operator at time t and its even…
We model a quantum system coupled to an environment of damped harmonic oscillators by following the approach of Caldeira-Leggett and adopting the Caldirola-Kanai Lagrangian for the bath oscillators. In deriving the master equation of the quantum system of interest (a particle in a general potential), we show that the potential is modified non-trivially by a new inverted harmonic oscillator term, induced by the damping of the bath oscillators. We analyze numerically the case of a particle in a double-well potential, and find that this modification changes both the rate of decoherence at short t…
Some unexplored decoherence aspects within the Caldeira-Leggett master equation are analyzed and discussed. The decoherence process is controlled by the two environment parameters, the relaxation rate or friction and the temperature, leading to a gradual transition from the quantum to classical regime. Arrival time distributions, nonminimum-uncertainty-product or stretching Gaussian wave packets, identical particles and diffraction in time display interesting features during the decoherence process undergone by the time dependent interference patterns. We show that the presence of a constant f…
The Caldeira-Leggett Hamiltonian (Eq. (1) below) describes the interaction of a discrete harmonic oscillator with a continuous bath of harmonic oscillators. This system is a standard model of dissipation in macroscopic low temperature physics, and has applications to superconductors, quantum computing, and macroscopic quantum tunneling. The similarities between the Caldeira-Leggett model and the linearized Vlasov-Poisson equation are analyzed, and it is shown that the damping in the Caldeira-Leggett model is analogous to that of Landau damping in plasmas [1]. An invertible linear transformatio…
The Caldeira-Leggett model describes a microscopic quantum system, represented by a harmonic oscillator, in interaction with a heat bath, represented by a large number of harmonic oscillators with a range of frequencies. We consider the case when the system oscillator starts out in the ground state and then thermalizes due to interactions with the heat bath, which is at temperature $θ$. We calculate the position autocorrelation function $<x(t')x(t)>$ of the system oscillator at two different times and study its behaviour in the small and large time limits. Our results show that the system osci…
We calculate the reduced density matrix for a system of coupled harmonic oscillators in a bosonic heat bath using the Born-Markov approximation and show that the expectation values of position and momentum evolve like classical quantities. We consider the cases where every oscillator is coupled to its own reservoir and where all oscillators are coupled to the same heat bath, pointing out the differences between these two models. In particular, for systems coupled to a common reservoir, we present an uncommon dissipation mechanism, which disappears, when the dynamics of the system are gouverned…
We analyze a model system of fermions in a harmonic oscillator potential under the influence of a fluctuating force generated by a bath of harmonic oscillators. This represents an extension of the well-known Caldeira-Leggett model to the case of many fermions. Using the method of bosonization, we calculate Green's functions and discuss relaxation and dephasing of a single extra particle added above the Fermi sea. We also extend our analysis to a more generic coupling between system and bath, that results in complete thermalization of the system.
In this work, momentum-space decoherence using minimum and nonminimum-uncertainty-product (stretched) Gaussian wave packets in the framework of Caldeira-Leggett formalism and under the presence of a linear potential is studied. As a dimensionless measure of decoherence, purity, a quantity appearing in the definition of the {\it linear entropy}, is studied taking into account the role of the stretching parameter. Special emphasis is on the open dynamics of the well-known cat states and bosons and fermions compared to distinguishable particles. For the cat state, while the stretching parameter s…
Caldeira and Leggett (CL) in a seminal paper derived a master equation describing Markovian Quantum Brownian motion. Such an equation suffered of not being completely positive, and many efforts have been made to solve this issue. We show that, when a careful mathematical analysis is performed, the model considered by CL leads to a non dissipative master equation. We argue that the correct way to understand the master equation derived in the CL regime is to consider it non-Markovian. Moreover, we show that if one wants to provide a microscopic description of Quantum Brownian motion with the CL …
I explore the processes of equilibration exhibited by the Adapted Caldeira-Leggett (ACL) model, a small unitary "toy model" developed for numerical studies of quantum decoherence between an SHO and an environment. I demonstrate how dephasing allows equilibration to occur in a wide variety of situations. While the finite model size and other "unphysical" aspects prevent the notions of temperature and thermalization from being generally applicable, certain primitive aspects of thermalization can be realized for particular parameter values. I link the observed behaviors to intrinsic properties of…
In this work we reconsider the problem discussed by Caldeira and Leggett (CL), and generalize their results for a quantum oscillator coupled bilinearly to a reservoir with dense discrete spectrum of harmonic oscillators. We show that for such systems dynamic evolution of any state of the CL Hamiltonian consists of recurrence cycles with partial revivals of the initial state amplitude. This revival or Loschmidt echo appears in each cycle due to reverse (from the reservoir) transitions (not existing in the limit of a macroscopic bath). Width and number of the Loschmidt echo components increase w…
Maximally predictive states, as defined in recent work by Zurek, Habib and Paz, are studied for more elaborate environment models than a linear coupling. An environment model which includes spatial correlations in the noise is considered in the non-dissipative regime. The Caldeira-Leggett model is also reconsidered in the context of an averaging procedure which produces a completely positive form for the quantum master equation. In both cases, the maximally predictive states for the harmonic oscillator are the coherent states, which is the same result found by Zurek,Habib and Paz for the Calde…
We study and compare the information loss of a large class of Gaussian bipartite systems. It includes the usual Caldeira-Leggett type model as well as Anosov models (parametric oscillators, the inverted oscillator environment, etc), which exhibit instability, one of the most important characteristics of chaotic systems. We establish a rigorous connection between the quantum Lyapunov exponents and coherence loss, and show that in the case of unstable environments coherence loss is completely determined by the upper quantum Lyapunov exponent, a behavior which is more universal than that of the C…
Open quantum systems are subject to interaction with their surrounding environments. The environments are in general complex and intractable. At low temperatures, quantum environments are mapped onto two simpler universality classes of models, namely oscillator bath and spin bath models. The two models are commonly recognized as completely distinct at strong coupling limits. In particular, it is believed, that they cause two different dissipative relaxation rates when they act on qubits. It is also believed that at such a limit the relaxation rate caused by the spin bath model cannot be simula…
The violation of Leggett-Garg type inequalities (LGtIs) is studied on a two level atom, driven by an external field in the presence of a squeezed thermal reservoir. The violations are observed in the underdamped regime where the spontaneous transition rate is much smaller compared to the Rabi frequency. Increase in thermal effects is found to decrease the extent of violation as well as the time over which the violation lasts. With increase in the value squeezing parameter the extent of violation of LGtIs is seen to reduce. The violation of LGtIs is favored by increase in the driving frequency.…
Thermalization of a system in the presence of a heat bath has been the subject of many theoretical investigations especially in the framework of solid-state physics. In this setting, the presence of a large bandwidth for the frequency distribution of the harmonic oscillators schematizing the heat bath is crucial, as emphasized in the Caldeira-Leggett model. By contrast, ultracold gases in atomic traps oscillate at well-defined frequencies and therefore seem to lie outside the Caldeira-Leggett paradigm. We introduce interaction Hamiltonians which allow us to adapt the model to an atomic physics…
We study the emergence of collective dynamics in the integrable Hamiltonian system of two finite ensembles of coupled harmonic oscillators. After identification of a collective degree of freedom, the Hamiltonian is mapped onto a model of Caldeira-Leggett type, where the collective coordinate is coupled to an internal bath of phonons. In contrast to the usual Caldeira-Leggett model, the bath in the present case is part of the system. We derive an equation of motion for the collective coordinate which takes the form of a damped harmonic oscillator. We show that the distribution of quantum transi…
We pursue the quantum-mechanical challenge to the efficient market hypothesis for the stock market by employing the quantum Brownian motion model. We utilize the quantum Caldeira-Leggett master equation as a possible phenomenological model for the stock-market-prices fluctuations while introducing the external harmonic field for the Brownian particle. Two quantum regimes are of particular interest: the exact regime as well as the approximate regime of the pure decoherence ("recoilless") limit of the Caldeira-Leggett equation. By calculating the standard deviation and the kurtosis for the parti…
Decoherence can be provided by a dissipative environment as described by the Caldeira-Leggett equation. This equation is foundational to the theory of quantum dissipation. However, no experimental test has been performed that measures for one physical system both the dissipation and the decoherence. Anglin and Zurek predicted that a resistive surface could provide such a dissipative environment for a free electron wave passing close to it. We propose that the electron wave's coherence and energy loss can be measured simultaneously by using Kapitza-Dirac scattering for varying light intensity.
We show how to realize a single-photon Dicke state in a large one-dimensional array of two- level systems, and discuss how to test its quantum properties. Realization of single-photon Dicke states relies on the cooperative nature of the interaction between a field reservoir and an array of two-level-emitters. The resulting dynamics of the delocalized state can display Rabi-like oscillations when the number of two-level emitters exceeds several hundred. In this case the large array of emitters is essentially behaving like a mirror-less cavity. We outline how this might be realized using a multi…
Caldeira-Leggett model of reservoir is generalized to a reservoir modeled by a continuum of real Klein-Gordon fields, instead of harmonic oscillators. A quantum Langevin type dissipative equation is obtained for the scalar field. The susceptibility of the medium is defined in terms of the reservoir Green's function and the coupling function satisfying causality condition. The connection between the coupling function and the susceptibility of the medium is found to be a Hankel transform from which the coupling function can be determined in terms of the susceptibility of the medium. Noise curren…
We study the effects of dissipation and decoherence induced on a harmonic oscillator by the coupling to a chaotic system with two degrees of freedom. Using the Feynman-Vernon approach and treating the chaotic system semiclassically we show that the effects of the low dimensional chaotic environment are in many ways similar to those produced by thermal baths. The classical correlation and response functions play important roles in both classical and quantum formulations. Our results are qualitatively similar to the high temperature regime of the Caldeira-Leggett model.
Krylov Complexity for Open Quantum System: Dissipation and Decoherence
Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar（印度理工学院甘德纳格尔分校）；University of Cape Town（开普敦大学）；The National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences（理论与计算科学国家研究所）
Quantum Brownian motion of a harmonic oscillator in the Markovian approximation is described by the respective Caldeira-Leggett master equation. This master equation can be brought into Lindblad form by adding a position diffusion term to it. The coefficient of this term is either customarily taken to be the lower bound dictated by the Dekker inequality or determined by more detailed derivations on the linearly damped quantum harmonic oscillator. In this paper, we explore the theoretical possibilities of determining the position diffusion term's coefficient by analyzing the entropy production …
We show how the quantum analog of the Fokker-Planck equation for describing Brownian motion can be obtained as the diffusive limit of the quantum linear Boltzmann equation. The latter describes the quantum dynamics of a tracer particle in a dilute, ideal gas by means of a translation-covariant master equation. We discuss the type of approximations required to obtain the generalized form of the Caldeira-Leggett master equation, along with their physical justification. Microscopic expressions for the diffusion and relaxation coefficients are obtained by analyzing the limiting form of the equatio…
The motion of a particle in the potential well is studied when the particle is attached to the infinite elastic string. This is generic with the problem of dissipative quantum mechanics investigated by Caldeira and Leggett. Besides the dissipative motion there is another scenario of interaction of the string with the particle attached. Stationary particle-string states exist with string deformations accompanying the particle. This is like polaronic states in solids. Our polaronic states in the well are non-decaying and with continuous energy spectrum. Perhaps these states have a link to quantu…
We analyze the dissipative quantum tunneling in the Caldeira-Leggett model by the nonperturbative renormalization-group method. We classify the dissipation effects by introducing the notion of effective cutoffs. We calculate the localization susceptibility to evaluate the critical dissipation for the quantum-classical transition. Our results are consistent with previous semiclassical arguments, but give considerably larger critical dissipation.
We perform a detailed analysis of the nonclassical properties of a damped two-level system. We compute and compare three different criteria of quantumness, the $l_1$-norm of coherence, the Leggett- Garg inequality and a quantum witness based on the no-signaling in time condition. We show that all three quantum indicators decay exponentially in time as a result of the coupling to the thermal reservoir. We further demonstrate that the corresponding characteristic times are identical and given by the coherence half-life. These results quantify how violations of Leggett-Garg inequalities and nonze…
We show that Wigner-Leggett-Caldeira equation for Wigner phase space distribution function which describes the quantum Brownian motion of a particle in a force field in a high temerature, Ohmic environment can be identified as a semiclassical version of Kramers' equation. Based on an expansion in powers of $\hbar$ we solve this equation to calculate the semiclassical correction to Kramers' rate.
We investigate both analytically and numerically violations of a Leggett-Garg inequality (LGI) for a composite quantum system in contact with two separate reservoirs at different temperatures. Remarkably we find that LGI violations can be enhanced when a heat current is established at low temperatures in a steady-state regime. Based on a Kraus operator decomposition of the non-unitary evolution for a system formed by two interacting spins or quantum bits, we provide analytical support for power law relations between dissipation strength and mean temperature in the borderlines separating parame…
We study the interplay between collective and incoherent single-particle motion in a model of two chains of particles whose interaction comprises a non-integrable part. In the perturbative regime, but for a general form of the interaction, we calculate the spectral density for collective excitations. We obtain the remarkable result that it always has a unique semiclassical interpretation. We show this by a proper renormalization procedure which allows us to map our system to a Caldeira-Leggett--type of model in which the bath is part of the system.
We study a general quantum system interacting with environment modeled by the bosonic heat bath of Caldeira and Leggett type. General interaction Hamiltonians are considered that commute with the system's Hamiltonian so that there is no energy exchange between the system and bath. We argue that this model provides an appropriate description of adiabatic quantum decoherence, i.e., loss of entanglement on time scales short compared to those of thermal relaxation processes associated with energy exchange with the bath. The interaction Hamiltonian is then proportional to a conserved "pointer obser…
Following the Caldeira-Leggett approach to describe dissipative quantum systems the structure function for a harmonic oscillator with Ohmic dissipation is evaluated by an analytic continuation from euclidean to real time. The analytic properties of the Fourier transform of the structure function with respect to the energy transfer (the ``characteristic function'') are studied and utilized. In the one-parameter model of Ohmic dissipation we show explicitly that the broadening of excited states increases with the state number without violating sum rules. Analytic and numerical results suggest th…
Based on a network graph analysis of the underlying circuit, a quantum theory of arbitrary superconducting charge qubits is derived. Describing the dissipative elements of the circuit with a Caldeira-Leggett model, we calculate the decoherence and leakage rates of a charge qubit. The analysis includes decoherence due to a dissipative circuit element such as a voltage source or the quasiparticle resistances of the Josephson junctions in the circuit. The theory presented here is dual to the quantum circuit theory for superconducting flux qubits. In contrast to spin-boson models, the full Hilbert…
The quantum dissipative dynamics of a tunneling process through double barrier structures is investigated on the basis of a rigorous treatment for the first time. We employ a Caldeira-Leggett Hamiltonian with an effective potential calculated self-consistently, accounting for the electron distribution. With this Hamiltonian, we use the reduced hierarchy equations of motion in the Wigner space representation to study the effects of non-Markovian thermal fluctuations and dissipation at finite temperature in a rigorous manner. Hysteresis, double plateau-like behavior, and self-excited current osc…
