Overdamping by weakly coupled environments

A quantum system weakly interacting with a fast environment usually undergoes a relaxation with complex frequencies whose imaginary parts are damping rates quadratic in the coupling to the environment, in accord with Fermi's ``Golden Rule''. We show for various models (spin damped by harmonic-oscillator or random-matrix baths, quantum diffusion, quantum Brownian motion) that upon increasing the coupling up to a critical value still small enough to allow for weak-coupling Markovian master equations, a new relaxation regime can occur. In that regime, complex frequencies lose their real parts such that the process becomes overdamped. Our results call into question the standard belief that overdamping is exclusively a strong coupling feature.Comment: 4 figures; Paper submitted to Phys. Rev.

Semiclassical spectral correlator in quasi one-dimensional systems

We investigate the spectral statistics of chaotic quasi one dimensional systems such as long wires. To do so we represent the spectral correlation function $R(\epsilon)$ through derivatives of a generating function and semiclassically approximate the latter in terms of periodic orbits. In contrast to previous work we obtain both non-oscillatory and oscillatory contributions to the correlation function. Both types of contributions are evaluated to leading order in $1/\epsilon$ for systems with and without time-reversal invariance. Our results agree with expressions from the theory of disordered systems.Comment: 10 pages, no figure

One Dimensional Nonequilibrium Kinetic Ising Models with Branching Annihilating Random Walk

Nonequilibrium kinetic Ising models evolving under the competing effect of spin flips at zero temperature and nearest neighbour spin exchanges at $T=\infty$ are investigated numerically from the point of view of a phase transition. Branching annihilating random walk of the ferromagnetic domain boundaries determines the steady state of the system for a range of parameters of the model. Critical exponents obtained by simulation are found to agree, within error, with those in Grassberger's cellular automata.Comment: 10 pages, Latex, figures upon request, SZFKI 05/9

Distribution of interference in random quantum algorithms

We study the amount of interference in random quantum algorithms using a recently derived quantitative measure of interference. To this end we introduce two random circuit ensembles composed of random sequences of quantum gates from a universal set, mimicking quantum algorithms in the quantum circuit representation. We show numerically that these ensembles converge to the well--known circular unitary ensemble (CUE) for general complex quantum algorithms, and to the Haar orthogonal ensemble (HOE) for real quantum algorithms. We provide exact analytical formulas for the average and typical interference in the circular ensembles, and show that for sufficiently large numbers of qubits a random quantum algorithm uses with probability close to one an amount of interference approximately equal to the dimension of the Hilbert space. As a by-product, we offer a new way of efficiently constructing random operators from the Haar measures of CUE or HOE in a high dimensional Hilbert space using universal sets of quantum gates.Comment: 14 pages revtex, 11 eps figure

Photon trains and lasing : The periodically pumped quantum dot

We propose to pump semiconductor quantum dots with surface acoustic waves which deliver an alternating periodic sequence of electrons and holes. In combination with a good optical cavity such regular pumping could entail anti-bunching and sub-Poissonian photon statistics. In the bad-cavity limit a train of equally spaced photons would arise.Comment: RevTex, 5 pages, 1 figur

Multifractal eigenstates of quantum chaos and the Thue-Morse sequence

We analyze certain eigenstates of the quantum baker's map and demonstrate, using the Walsh-Hadamard transform, the emergence of the ubiquitous Thue-Morse sequence, a simple sequence that is at the border between quasi-periodicity and chaos, and hence is a good paradigm for quantum chaotic states. We show a family of states that are also simply related to Thue-Morse sequence, and are strongly scarred by short periodic orbits and their homoclinic excursions. We give approximate expressions for these states and provide evidence that these and other generic states are multifractal.Comment: Substantially modified from the original, worth a second download. To appear in Phys. Rev. E as a Rapid Communicatio

Step Position Distributions and the Pairwise Einstein Model for Steps on Crystal Surfaces

The Pairwise Einstein Model (PEM) of steps not only justifies the use of the Generalized Wigner Distribution (GWD) for Terrace Width Distributions (TWDs), it also predicts a specific form for the Step Position Distribution (SPD), i.e., the probability density function for the fluctuations of a step about its average position. The predicted form of the SPD is well approximated by a Gaussian with a finite variance. However, the variance of the SPD measured from either real surfaces or Monte Carlo simulations depends on $\Delta y$, the length of step over which it is calculated, with the measured variance diverging in the limit $\Delta y \to \infty$. As a result, a length scale $L_{\rm W}$ can be defined as the value of $\Delta y$ at which the measured and theoretical SPDs agree. Monte Carlo simulations of the terrace-step-kink model indicate that $L_{\rm W} \approx 14.2 \xi_Q$, where $\xi_Q$ is the correlation length in the direction parallel to the steps, independent of the strength of the step-step repulsion. $L_{\rm W}$ can also be understood as the length over which a {\em single} terrace must be sampled for the TWD to bear a "reasonable" resemblence to the GWD.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Sequential superradiant scattering from atomic Bose-Einstein condensates

We theoretically discuss several aspects of sequential superradiant scattering from atomic Bose-Einstein condensates. Our treatment is based on the semiclassical description of the process in terms of the Maxwell-Schroedinger equations for the coupled matter-wave and optical fields. First, we investigate sequential scattering in the weak-pulse regime and work out the essential mechanisms responsible for bringing about the characteristic fan-shaped side-mode distribution patterns. Second, we discuss the transition between the Kapitza-Dirac and Bragg regimes of sequential scattering in the strong-pulse regime. Finally, we consider the situation where superradiance is initiated by coherently populating an atomic side mode through Bragg diffraction, as in studies of matter-wave amplification, and describe the effect on the sequential scattering process.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Proceedings of LPHYS'06 worksho

Spectral fluctuations and 1/f noise in the order-chaos transition regime

Level fluctuations in quantum system have been used to characterize quantum chaos using random matrix models. Recently time series methods were used to relate level fluctuations to the classical dynamics in the regular and chaotic limit. In this we show that the spectrum of the system undergoing order to chaos transition displays a characteristic $f^{-\gamma}$ noise and $\gamma$ is correlated with the classical chaos in the system. We demonstrate this using a smooth potential and a time-dependent system modeled by Gaussian and circular ensembles respectively of random matrix theory. We show the effect of short periodic orbits on these fluctuation measures.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Modified version. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Emergence of classical behavior from the quantum spin

Classical Hamiltonian system of a point moving on a sphere of fixed radius is shown to emerge from the constrained evolution of quantum spin. The constrained quantum evolution corresponds to an appropriate coarse-graining of the quantum states into equivalence classes, and forces the equivalence classes to evolve as single units representing the classical states. The coarse-grained quantum spin with the constrained evolution in the limit of the large spin becomes indistinguishable from the classical system