In both quantum optics and cold atom physics, the behaviour of bosonic photons and atoms is often treated using phase space methods, where mode annihilation and creation operators are represented by c-number phase space variables, with the density operator equivalent to a distribution function of these variables. The anti-commutation rules for fermion annihilation, creation operators suggests the possibility of using anti-commuting Grassmann variables to represent these operators. However, in spite of the seminal work by Cahill and Glauber and a few applications, the use of Grassmann phase space methods in quantum - atom optics to treat fermionic systems is rather rare, though fermion coherent states using Grassmann variables are widely used in particle physics.
This paper presents a phase space theory for fermion systems based on distribution functionals, which replace the density operator and involve Grassmann fields representing anti-commuting fermion field annihilation, creation operators. It is an extension of a previous phase space theory paper for fermions (Paper I) based on separate modes, in which the density operator is replaced by a distribution function depending on Grassmann phase space variables which represent the mode annihilation and creation operators. This further development of the theory is important for the situation when large numbers of fermions are involved, resulting in too many modes to treat separately. Here Grassmann fields, distribution functionals, functional Fokker-Planck equations and Ito stochastic field equations are involved. Typical applications to a trapped Fermi gas of interacting spin 1/2 fermionic atoms and to multi-component Fermi gases with non-zero range interactions are presented, showing that the Ito stochastic field equations are local in these cases. Solutions for spin 1/2 fermions either free or in lattices are found.
Grassmannian local hidden variables are shown to generate all possible quantum correlations in a bipartite quantum system. Grassmann representation of fermions, common in field theory, opens a related perspective. Although Grassmann hidden variables can not challange Bell's locality theorem, they can become an interesting mathematical tool to investigate entanglement.
Since any fermionic operator ψcan be written as ψ=q+ip, where q and p are hermitian operators, we use the eigenvalues of q and p to construct a functional formalism for calculating matrix elements that involve fermionic fields. The formalism is similar to that for bosonic fields and does not involve Grassmann numbers. This makes possible to perform numerical fermionic lattice computations that are much faster than not only other algorithms for fermions, but also algorithms for bosons.
The phase-space description of bosonic quantum systems has numerous applications in such fields as quantum optics, trapped ultracold atoms, and transport phenomena. Extension of this description to the case of fermionic systems leads to formal Grassmann phase-space quasiprobability distributions and master equations. The latter are usually considered as not possessing probabillistic interpretation and as not directly computationally accessible. Here, we describe how to construct $c$-number interpretations of Grassmann phase space representations and their master equations. As a specific exampl…
Grassmann Phase Space Theory (GSPT) is applied to the BEC/BCS crossover in cold fermionic atomic gases and used to determine the evolution (over either time or temperature) of the Quantum Correlation Functions (QCF) that specify: (a) the positions of the spin up and spin down fermionic atoms in a single Cooper pair and (b) the positions of the two spin up and two spin down fermionic atoms in two Cooper pairs The first of these QCF is relevant to describing the change in size of a Cooper pair, as the fermion-fermion coupling constant is changed via Feshbach resonance methods through the crossov…
We examine the weakly interacting atoms in an ultracold Fermi gas leading to a state of macroscopic coherence, from a theoretical perspective. It has been shown that this state can be described as a fermionic coherent state. These coherent states are the eigenstates of fermionic annihilation operators, the eigenvalues being anti-commuting numbers or Grassmann numbers. By exploiting the simple rules of Grassmann algebra and a close kinship between relations evaluated for more familiar bosonic fields and those for fermionic fields, we derive the thermodynamic limit, the spontaneous symmetry brea…
For a given $k$-dimensional subspace $V_0$ in a Hilbert space $\hilb$ and a unitary transformation $g_0:V_0\To V_0$, we find a path in the Grassmann manifold the monodromy of which coincides with $g_0$.
Notions of a Gaussian state and a Gaussian linear map are generalized to the case of anticommuting (Grassmann) variables. Conditions under which a Gaussian map is trace preserving and (or) completely positive are formulated. For any Gaussian map an explicit formula relating correlation matrices of input and output states is presented. This formalism allows to develop the Lagrangian representation for fermionic linear optics (FLO). It covers both unitary operations and the single-mode projectors associated with FLO measurements. Using the Lagrangian representation we reduce a classical simulati…
Conservation of statistics requires that fermions be coupled to Grassmann external sources. Correspondingly, conservation of statistics requires that parabosons, parafermions and quons be coupled to external sources that are the appropriate generalizations of Grassmann numbers.
Recently, the Grassmann-tensor-entanglement renormalization group(GTERG) approach was proposed as a generic variational approach to study strongly correlated boson/fermion systems. However, the weakness of such a simple variational approach is that generic Grassmann tensor product states(GTPS) with large inner dimension $D$ will contain a large number of variational parameters and be hard to be determined through usual minimization procedures. In this paper, we first introduce a standard form of GTPS which significantly simplifies the representations. Then we describe a simple imaginary-time-e…
A new class of quantum channels called Grassmann channels is introduced and their classical and quantum capacity is calculated. The channel class appears in a study of the two-mode squeezing operator constructed from operators satisfying the fermionic algebra. We compare Grassmann channels with the channels induced by the bosonic two-mode squeezing operator. Among other results, we challenge the relevance of calculating entanglement measures to assess or compare the ability of bosonic and fermionic states to send quantum information to uniformly accelerated frames.
We formulate a general multi-mode Gaussian operator basis for fermions, to enable a positive phase-space representation of correlated Fermi states. The Gaussian basis extends existing bosonic phase-space methods to Fermi systems and thus enables first-principles dynamical or equilibrium calculations in quantum many-body Fermi systems. We prove the completeness and positivity of the basis, and derive differential forms for products with one- and two-body operators. Because the basis satisfies fermionic superselection rules, the resulting phase space involves only c-numbers, without requiring an…
Nonlinear pseudo-fermions of degree n (n-pseudo-fermions) are introduced as (pseudo) particles with creation and annihilation operators $a$ and $b$, $b \neq a^\dagger$, obeying the simple nonlinear anticommutation relation $ab + b^n a^n = 1$. The (n+1)-order nilpotency of these operators follows from the existence of unique (up to a bi-normalization factor) $a$-vacuum. Supposing appropriate (n+1)-order nilpotent para-Grassmann variables and integration rules the sets of n-pseudo-fermion number states, and 'right' and 'left' ladder operator bi-overcomplete sets of coherent states are constructe…
This paper shows that phase space methods using a positive P type distribution function involving both c-number variables (for the cavity mode) and Grassmann variables (for the two level atom) can be used to treat the Jaynes-Cummings model. Although it is a Grassmann function, the distribution function is equivalent to six c-number functions of the two bosonic variables. Experimental quantities are given as bosonic phase space integrals involving the six functions. A Fokker-Planck equation involving both left and right Grassmann differentiation can be obtained for the distribution function, an…
Nonlinear fermions of degree $n$ ($n$-fermions) are introduced as particles with creation and annihilation operators obeying the simple nonlinear anticommutation relation $AA^\dagger + {A^\dagger}^n A^n = 1$. The ($n+1$)-order nilpotency of these operators follows from the existence of unique $A$-vacuum. Supposing appropreate ($n+1$)-order nilpotent para-Grassmann variables and integration rules the sets of $n$-fermion number states, 'right' and 'left' ladder operator coherent states (CS) and displacement-operator-like CS are constructed. The $(n+1)\times(n+1)$ matrix realization of the relate…
We establish a general map between Grassmann functionals for fermions and probability or weight distributions for Ising spins. The equivalence between the two formulations is based on identical transfer matrices and expectation values of products of observables. The map preserves locality properties and can be realized for arbitrary dimensions. We present a simple example where a quantum field theory for free massless Dirac fermions in two-dimensional Minkowski space is represented by an asymmetric Ising model on a euclidean square lattice.
We construct a map between the quantum field theory of free Weyl or Majorana fermions and the probability distribution of a classical statistical ensemble for Ising spins or discrete bits. More precisely, a Grassmann functional integral based on a real Grassmann algebra specifies the time evolution of the real wave function $q_τ(t)$ for the Ising states $τ$. The time dependent probability distribution of a generalized Ising model obtains as $p_τ(t)=q^2_τ(t)$. The functional integral employs a lattice regularization for single Weyl or Majorana spinors. We further introduce the complex structure…
