Dynamics of a two-level system strongly coupled to a high-frequency quantum oscillator

Recent experiments on quantum behavior in microfabricated solid-state systems suggest tantalizing connections to quantum optics. Several of these experiments address the prototypical problem of cavity quantum electrodynamics: a two-level system coupled to a quantum harmonic oscillator. Such devices may allow the exploration of parameter regimes outside the near-resonance and weak-coupling assumptions of the ubiquitous rotating-wave approximation (RWA), necessitating other theoretical approaches. One such approach is an adiabatic approximation in the limit that the oscillator frequency is much larger than the characteristic frequency of the two-level system. A derivation of the approximation is presented and the time evolution of the two-level-system occupation probability is calculated using both thermal- and coherent-state initial conditions for the oscillator. Closed-form evaluation of the time evolution in the weak-coupling limit provides insight into the differences between the thermal- and coherent-state models. Finally, potential experimental observations in solid-state systems, particularly the Cooper-pair box--nanomechanical resonator system, are discussed and found to be promising.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures; revised abstract; some text revisions; added two figures and combined others; added references. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

A Morse index theorem for elliptic operators on bounded domains

Given a selfadjoint, elliptic operator $L$, one would like to know how the spectrum changes as the spatial domain $\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^d$ is deformed. For a family of domains $\{\Omega_t\}_{t\in[a,b]}$ we prove that the Morse index of $L$ on $\Omega_a$ differs from the Morse index of $L$ on $\Omega_b$ by the Maslov index of a path of Lagrangian subspaces on the boundary of $\Omega$. This is particularly useful when $\Omega_a$ is a domain for which the Morse index is known, e.g. a region with very small volume. Then the Maslov index computes the difference of Morse indices for the "original" problem (on $\Omega_b$) and the "simplified" problem (on $\Omega_a$). This generalizes previous multi-dimensional Morse index theorems that were only available on star-shaped domains or for Dirichlet boundary conditions. We also discuss how one can compute the Maslov index using crossing forms, and present some applications to the spectral theory of Dirichlet and Neumann boundary value problems.Comment: 21 pages; weaker regularity assumptions than in the first versio

Disorder-Induced Shift of Condensation Temperature for Dilute Trapped Bose Gases

We determine the leading shift of the Bose-Einstein condensation temperature for an ultracold dilute atomic gas in a harmonic trap due to weak disorder by treating both a Gaussian and a Lorentzian spatial correlation for the quenched disorder potential. Increasing the correlation length from values much smaller than the geometric mean of the trap scale and the mean particle distance to much larger values leads first to an increase of the positive shift to a maximum at this critical length scale and then to a decrease.Comment: Author information under http://www.theo-phys.uni-essen.de/tp/ags/pelster_di

Genuine phase diffusion of a Bose-Einstein condensate in the microcanonical ensemble: A classical field study

Within the classical field model, we find that the phase of a Bose-Einstein condensate undergoes a true diffusive motion in the microcanonical ensemble, the variance of the condensate phase change between time zero and time $t$ growing linearly in $t$. The phase diffusion coefficient obeys a simple scaling law in the double thermodynamic and Bogoliubov limit. We construct an approximate calculation of the diffusion coefficient, in fair agreement with the numerical results over the considered temperature range, and we extend this approximate calculation to the quantum field.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure