Transverse magnetization and transient oscillations in the quantum tunneling of molecular magnets

We calculate the response of a molecular magnet subject to a time-varying magnetic field and coupled to a heat bath. We propose that observations of calculated oscillations transverse to the field direction may be an effective way of demonstrating quantum tunneling and thus probing the details of level repulsion. The effective model of a triangle of Heisenberg spins and weak anisotropies, as has been used to model the molecular magnets V15 and Cu3, is used to illustrate this

Grassmann techniques applied to classical spin systems

We review problems involving the use of Grassmann techniques in the field of classical spin systems in two dimensions. These techniques are useful to perform exact correspondences between classical spin Hamiltonians and field-theory fermionic actions. This contributes to a better understanding of critical behavior of these models in term of non-quadratic effective actions which can been seen as an extension of the free fermion Ising model. Within this method, identification of bare masses allows for an accurate estimation of critical points or lines and which is supported by Monte-Carlo results and diagrammatic techniques

Global fluctuations in physical systems: a subtle interplay between sum and extreme value statistics

Fluctuations of global additive quantities, like total energy or magnetization for instance, can in principle be described by statistics of sums of (possibly correlated) random variables. Yet, it turns out that extreme values (the largest value among a set of random variables) may also play a role in the statistics of global quantities, in a direct or indirect way. This review discusses different connections that may appear between problems of sums and of extreme values of random variables, and emphasizes physical situations in which such connections are relevant. Along this line of thought, standard convergence theorems for sums and extreme values of independent and identically distributed random variables are recalled, and some rigorous results as well as more heuristic reasonings are presented for correlated or non-identically distributed random variables. More specifically, the role of extreme values within sums of broadly distributed variables is addressed, and a general mapping between extreme values and sums is presented, allowing us to identify a class of correlated random variables whose sum follows (generalized) extreme value distributions. Possible applications of this specific class of random variables are illustrated on the example of two simple physical models. A few extensions to other related classes of random variables sharing similar qualitative properties are also briefly discussed, in connection with the so-called BHP distribution.Comment: 58 pages, final version, typo corrected in Theorem

The role of quantum measurement in stochastic thermodynamics

This article sets up a new formalism to investigate stochastic thermodynamics in the quantum regime, where stochasticity and irreversibility primarily come from quantum measurement. In the absence of any bath, we define a purely quantum component to heat exchange, that corresponds to energy fluctuations caused by measurement back-action. Energetic and entropic signatures of measurement induced irreversibility are then investigated for canonical experiments of quantum optics, and the energetic cost of counter-acting decoherence is characterized on a simple state-stabilizing protocol. By placing quantum measurement in a central position, our formalism contributes to bridge a gap between experimental quantum optics and quantum thermodynamics

Quelques aspects de physique statistique des systèmes corrélés

This thesis deals with different aspects of statistical physics of correlated systems. The first partis related to the fluctuations of global quantities in correlated systems. Various studies clam that suchfluctuations are well described by the BHP distribution. We use the 2D Ising model to test and quantifythis proposition. Using observations from Monte Carlo simulations, we build a theoretical analysis, showingthat the apparent universality of the BHP distribution is related to the Gaussian model obtained fromperturbation expansion. Deviations from BHP, due to a non-linear term are expected. In the second partwe consider a new model for a 1/f classical intermittent noise and study its effects on the dephasing of atwo-level system.Within this model, the evolution of the relative phase between the two states is described asa continuous time random walk. Using renewal theory, we find exact expressions for the dephasing factor andidentify the physically relevant various regimes in terms of the coupling to the noise. In particular, we pointout the consequences of the non-stationarity and pronounced non-Gaussian features of this noise, includingsome new anomalous and aging dephasing scenarios. In the last part we present an alternative method toobtain some exact results for the 2D Ising model with a boundary magnetic field, for a finite size system.This method is a generalisation of ideas from Plechko presented for the 2D Ising model in zero field, basedon the representation of the Ising model using a Grassmann algebra. A Gaussian 1D action is obtained for ageneral configuration of the boundary magnetic field. When the magnetic field is homogeneous, our resultsare in agreement with McCoy and Wu's previous work. This 1D action is used to compute in an efficientway the free energy in a special case of inhomogeneous boundary magnetic field. This allows us to computethe phase diagram of a wetting transition induced by a boundary defect.Les travaux regroupés dans cette th`ese traitent de différents aspects de la physique statistique dessystèmes corrélés. Dans la première partie de cette thèse on s'intéresse aux fluctuations de grandeurs globalesdans les systèmes corrélés, dont de nombreux travaux sur des systèmes variés proposent qu'elles soientbien d´ecrites par la distribution BHP issue du modèle XY 2d. Le modèle d'Ising 2d est utilisé pour tester cette proposition et laquantifier. En utilisant des observations issues de simulations Monte Carlo, une étude analytique montre quel'apparente universalité de BHP est reliée au modèle gaussien obtenu par perturbation. et que des écarts àBHP d'importance variable existe, provenant de la contribution d'un terme non-gaussien. Dans la secondepartie, on s'intéresse à l'étude de la décohérence d'un système quantique à deux niveaux, induite par unbruit intermittent présentant un spectre en 1/f et du vieillissement. Un tel bruit peut schématiser l'effet d'unenvironnement corrélé sur un Qbit. En utilisant des résultats de probabilité, on peut calculer le facteur dedécohérence dans de nombreux régimes. On obtient alors des scénarios de décohérence anormaux, présentantune décroissance en loi de puissance aux temps longs, ainsi que de la non-stationnarité. Enfin la dernièrepartie est dédiée `a l'étude des solutions exactes du modèle d'Ising 2d classique, avec un champ magnétiquesur un bord. En généralisant une méthode due à Plechko, on obtient la fonction de partition de ce systèmeau moyen d'une action gaussienne fermionique unidimensionnelle. Dans le cas d'un champ homogène, onretrouve les résultats précédents de McCoy et Wu. On peut aller au-delà en considérant le cas où le champmagnétique change de direction une fois au bord. Cette méthode permet alors de décrire une transition detype mouillage, induite par ce défaut d'orientation. Il est en particulier possible d'obtenir analytiquement lediagramme de phase de ce système

Temperature can enhance coherent oscillations at a Landau-Zener transition

We consider sweeping a system through a Landau-Zener avoided-crossing, when that system is also coupled to an environment or noise. Unsurprisingly, we find that decoherence suppresses the coherent oscillations of quantum superpositions of system states, as superpositions decohere into mixed states. However, we also find an effect we call "Lamb-assisted coherent oscillations", in which a Lamb shift exponentially enhances the coherent oscillation amplitude. This dominates for high-frequency environments such as super-Ohmic environments, where the coherent oscillations can grow exponentially as either the environment coupling or temperature are increased. The effect could be used as an experimental probe for high-frequency environments in such systems as molecular magnets, solid-state qubits, spin-polarized gases (neutrons or He3) or Bose-condensates.Comment: 4 Pages & 4 Figs - New version: introduction extended & citations adde

Generalised extreme value statistics and sum of correlated variables

We show that generalised extreme value statistics -the statistics of the k-th largest value among a large set of random variables- can be mapped onto a problem of random sums. This allows us to identify classes of non-identical and (generally) correlated random variables with a sum distributed according to one of the three (k-dependent) asymptotic distributions of extreme value statistics, namely the Gumbel, Frechet and Weibull distributions. These classes, as well as the limit distributions, are naturally extended to real values of k, thus providing a clear interpretation to the onset of Gumbel distributions with non-integer index k in the statistics of global observables. This is one of the very few known generalisations of the central limit theorem to non-independent random variables. Finally, in the context of a simple physical model, we relate the index k to the ratio of the correlation length to the system size, which remains finite in strongly correlated systems.Comment: To appear in J.Phys.