Phase-space approach to Berry's phases

We propose a new formula for the adiabatic Berry phase which is based on phase-space formulation of quantum mechanics. This approach sheds a new light into the correspondence between classical and quantum adiabatic phases -- both phases are related with the averaging procedure: Hannay's angle with averaging over the classical torus and Berry's phase with averaging over the entire classical phase space with respect to the corresponding Wigner function. Generalizations to the non-abelian Wilczek--Zee case and mixed states are also included.Comment: 5 page

Non-Markovian quantum dynamics: local versus non-local

We analyze non-Markovian evolution of open quantum systems. It is shown that any dynamical map representing evolution of such a system may be described either by non-local master equation with memory kernel or equivalently by equation which is local in time. These two descriptions are complementary: if one is simple the other is quite involved, or even singular, and vice versa. The price one pays for the local approach is that the corresponding generator keeps the memory about the starting point `t_0'. This is the very essence of non-Markovianity. Interestingly, this generator might be highly singular, nevertheless, the corresponding dynamics is perfectly regular. Remarkably, singularities of generator may lead to interesting physical phenomena like revival of coherence or sudden death and revival of entanglement.Comment: 4.5 pages; new examples are adde

Generation of a dipole moment by external field in Born-Infeld non-linear electrodynamics

The mechanism for the generation of a dipole moment due to an external field is presented for the Born-Infeld charged particle. The 'polarizability coefficient' is calculated: it is proportional to the third power of the characteristic length in the Born-Infeld theory. Some physical implications are briefly discussed.Comment: 8 pages, LATE

From Markovian semigroup to non-Markovian quantum evolution

We provided a class of legitimate memory kernels leading to completely positive trace preserving dynamical maps. Our construction is based on a simple normalization procedure. Interestingly, when applied to the celebrated Wigner-Weisskopf theory it gives the standard Markovian evolution governed by the local master equation.Comment: 8 page

Memory in a nonlocally damped oscillator

We analyze the new equation of motion for the damped oscillator. It differs from the standard one by a damping term which is nonlocal in time and hence it gives rise to a system with memory. Both classical and quantum analysis is performed. The characteristic feature of this nonlocal system is that it breaks local composition low for the classical Hamiltonian dynamics and the corresponding quantum propagator.Comment: minor corrections added; title change