1,171 research outputs found
Orthogonality relations in Quantum Tomography
Quantum estimation of the operators of a system is investigated by analyzing
its Liouville space of operators. In this way it is possible to easily derive
some general characterization for the sets of observables (i.e. the possible
quorums) that are measured for the quantum estimation. In particular we analyze
the reconstruction of operators of spin systems.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
Integrability and level crossing manifolds in a quantum Hamiltonian system
We consider a two-spin model, represented classically by a nonlinear
autonomous Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom and a nontrivial
integrability condition, and quantum mechanically by a real symmetric
Hamiltonian matrix with blocks of dimensionalities K=l(l+1)/2, l=1,2,... In the
six-dimensional (6D) parameter space of this model, classical integrability is
satisfied on a 5D hypersurface, and level crossings occur on 4D manifolds that
are completely embedded in the integrability hypersurface except for some
lower-D sub-manifolds. Under mild assumptions, the classical integrability
condition can be reconstructed from a purely quantum mechanical study of level
degeneracies in finite-dimensional invariant blocks of the Hamiltonian matrix.
Our conclusions are based on rigorous results for K=3 and on numerical results
for K=6,10.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
A quantum search for zeros of polynomials
A quantum mechanical search procedure to determine the real zeros of a polynomial is introduced. It is based on the construction of a spin observable whose eigenvalues coincide with the zeros of the polynomial. Subsequent quantum mechanical measurements of the observable output directly the numerical values of the zeros. Performing the measurements is the only computational resource involved
How to Test for Diagonalizability: The Discretized PT-Invariant Square-Well Potential
Given a non-hermitean matrix M, the structure of its minimal polynomial
encodes whether M is diagonalizable or not. This note will explain how to
determine the minimal polynomial of a matrix without going through its
characteristic polynomial. The approach is applied to a quantum mechanical
particle moving in a square well under the influence of a piece-wise constant
PT-symmetric potential. Upon discretizing the configuration space, the system
is decribed by a matrix of dimension three. It turns out not to be
diagonalizable for a critical strength of the interaction, also indicated by
the transition of two real into a pair of complex energy eigenvalues. The
systems develops a three-fold degenerate eigenvalue, and two of the three
eigenfunctions disappear at this exceptional point, giving a difference between
the algebraic and geometric multiplicity of the eigenvalue equal to two.Comment: 5 page
Diabolical points in the magnetic spectrum of Fe_8 molecules
The magnetic molecule Fe_8 has been predicted and observed to have a rich
pattern of degeneracies in its spectrum as an external magnetic field is
varied. These degeneracies have now been recognized to be diabolical points.
This paper analyzes the diabolicity and all essential properties of this system
using elementary perturbation theory. A variety of arguments is gievn to
suggest that an earlier semiclassical result for a subset of these points may
be exactly true for arbitrary spinComment: uses europhys.sty package; 3 embedded ps figure
Signatures of quantum integrability and nonintegrability in the spectral properties of finite Hamiltonian matrices
For a two-spin model which is (classically) integrable on a five-dimensional
hypersurface in six-dimensional parameter space and for which level
degeneracies occur exclusively (with one known exception) on four-dimensional
manifolds embedded in the integrability hypersurface, we investigate the
relations between symmetry, integrability, and the assignment of quantum
numbers to eigenstates. We calculate quantum invariants in the form of
expectation values for selected operators and monitor their dependence on the
Hamiltonian parameters along loops within, without, and across the
integrability hypersurface in parameter space. We find clear-cut signatures of
integrability and nonintegrability in the observed traces of quantum invariants
evaluated in finite-dimensional invariant Hilbert subspaces, The results
support the notion that quantum integrability depends on the existence of
action operators as constituent elements of the Hamiltonian.Comment: 11 page
Universality in Uncertainty Relations for a Quantum Particle
A general theory of preparational uncertainty relations for a quantum particle in one spatial dimension is developed. We derive conditions which determine whether a given smooth function of the particle's variances and its covariance is bounded from below. Whenever a global minimum exists, an uncertainty relation has been obtained. The squeezed number states of a harmonic oscillator are found to be universal: no other pure or mixed states will saturate any such relation. Geometrically, we identify a convex uncertainty region in the space of second moments which is bounded by the inequality derived by Robertson and Schrödinger. Our approach provides a unified perspective on existing uncertainty relations for a single continuous variable, and it leads to new inequalities for second moments which can be checked experimentally
Small denominators, frequency operators, and Lie transforms for nearly integrable quantum spin systems
Based on the previously proposed notions of action operators and of quantum integrability, frequency operators are introduced in a fully quantum-mechanical setting. They are conceptually useful because another formulation can be given to unitary perturbation theory. When worked out for quantum spin systems, this variant is found to be formally equivalent to canonical perturbation theory applied to nearly integrable systems consisting of classical spins. In particular, it becomes possible to locate the quantum-mechanical operator-valued equivalent of the frequency denominators that may cause divergence of the classical perturbation series. The results that are established here link the concept of quantum-mechanical integrability to a technical question, namely, the behavior of specific perturbation series
How to determine a quantum state by measurements: The Pauli problem for a particle with arbitrary potential
The problem of reconstructing a pure quantum state ¿¿> from measurable quantities is considered for a particle moving in a one-dimensional potential V(x). Suppose that the position probability distribution ¿¿(x,t)¿2 has been measured at time t, and let it have M nodes. It is shown that after measuring the time evolved distribution at a short-time interval ¿t later, ¿¿(x,t+¿t)¿2, the set of wave functions compatible with these distributions is given by a smooth manifold M in Hilbert space. The manifold M is isomorphic to an M-dimensional torus, TM. Finally, M additional expectation values of appropriately chosen nonlocal operators fix the quantum state uniquely. The method used here is the analog of an approach that has been applied successfully to the corresponding problem for a spin system
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