Testing quantum adiabaticity with quench echo

Adiabaticity of quantum evolution is important in many settings. One example is the adiabatic quantum computation. Nevertheless, up to now, there is no effective method to test the adiabaticity of the evolution when the eigenenergies of the driven Hamiltonian are not known. We propose a simple method to check adiabaticity of a quantum process for an arbitrary quantum system. We further propose a operational method for finding a uniformly adiabatic quench scheme based on Kibble-Zurek mechanism for the case when the initial and the final Hamiltonians are given. This method should help in implementing adiabatic quantum computation.Comment: This is a new version. Some typos in the New Journal of Physics version have been correcte

Decoherence, Chaos, and the Second Law

We investigate implications of decoherence for quantum systems which are classically chaotic. We show that, in open systems, the rate of von Neumann entropy production quickly reaches an asymptotic value which is: (i) independent of the system-environment coupling, (ii) dictated by the dynamics of the system, and (iii) dominated by the largest Lyapunov exponent. These results shed a new light on the correspondence between quantum and classical dynamics as well as on the origins of the ``arrow of time.''Comment: 13 Pages, 2 Figures available upon request, Preprint LA-UR-93-, The new version contains the text, the previous one had only the Macros: sorry

Consistent quantum mechanics admits no mereotopology

It is standardly assumed in discussions of quantum theory that physical systems can be regarded as having well-defined Hilbert spaces. It is shown here that a Hilbert space can be consistently partitioned only if its components are assumed not to interact. The assumption that physical systems have well-defined Hilbert spaces is, therefore, physically unwarranted.Comment: 10 pages; to appear in Axiomathe

Measurement of energy eigenstates by a slow detector

We propose a method for a weak continuous measurement of the energy eigenstates of a fast quantum system by means of a "slow" detector. Such a detector is only sensitive to slowly-changing variables, e. g. energy, while its back-action can be limited solely to decoherence of the eigenstate superpositions. We apply this scheme to the problem of detection of quantum jumps between energy eigenstates in a harmonic oscillator.Comment: 4 page

Dynamics of an inhomogeneous quantum phase transition

We argue that in a second order quantum phase transition driven by an inhomogeneous quench density of quasiparticle excitations is suppressed when velocity at which a critical point propagates across a system falls below a threshold velocity equal to the Kibble-Zurek correlation length times the energy gap at freeze-out divided by $\hbar$. This general prediction is supported by an analytic solution in the quantum Ising chain. Our results suggest, in particular, that adiabatic quantum computers can be made more adiabatic when operated in an "inhomogeneous" way.Comment: 7 pages; version to appear in a special issue of New J. Phy

Environment--Induced Decoherence, Classicality and Consistency of Quantum Histories

We prove that for an open system, in the Markovian regime, it is always possible to construct an infinite number of non trivial sets of histories that exactly satisfy the probability sum rules. In spite of being perfectly consistent, these sets manifest a very non--classical behavior: they are quite unstable under the addition of an extra instant to the list of times defining the history. To eliminate this feature --whose implications for the interpretation of the formalism we discuss-- and to achieve the stability that characterizes the quasiclassical domain, it is necessary to separate the instants which define the history by time intervals significantly larger than the typical decoherence time. In this case environment induced superselection is very effective and the quasiclassical domain is characterized by histories constructed with ``pointer projectors''.Comment: 32 pages (1 figure, postcript included at the end: use epsf.tex and follow instructions before Texing) LA-UR-93-141

How to fix a broken symmetry: Quantum dynamics of symmetry restoration in a ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensate

We discuss the dynamics of a quantum phase transition in a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate when it is driven from the magnetized broken-symmetry phase to the unmagnetized ``symmetric'' polar phase. We determine where the condensate goes out of equilibrium as it approaches the critical point, and compute the condensate magnetization at the critical point. This is done within a quantum Kibble-Zurek scheme traditionally employed in the context of symmetry-breaking quantum phase transitions. Then we study the influence of the nonequilibrium dynamics near a critical point on the condensate magnetization. In particular, when the quench stops at the critical point, nonlinear oscillations of magnetization occur. They are characterized by a period and an amplitude that are inversely proportional. If we keep driving the condensate far away from the critical point through the unmagnetized ``symmetric'' polar phase, the amplitude of magnetization oscillations slowly decreases reaching a non-zero asymptotic value. That process is described by the equation that can be mapped onto the classical mechanical problem of a particle moving under the influence of harmonic and ``anti-friction'' forces whose interplay leads to surprisingly simple fixed-amplitude oscillations. We obtain several scaling results relating the condensate magnetization to the quench rate, and verify numerically all analytical predictions.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, final version accepted in NJP (slight changes with respect to the former submission

Inhomogeneous Kibble-Zurek mechanism: vortex nucleation during Bose-Einstein condensation

The Kibble-Zurek mechanism is applied to the spontaneous formation of vortices in a harmonically trapped thermal gas following a temperature quench through the critical value for Bose-Einstein condensation. While in the homogeneous scenario vortex nucleation is always expected, we show that it can be completely suppressed in the presence of the confinement potential, whenever the speed of the spatial front undergoing condensation is lower than a threshold velocity. Otherwise, the interplay between the geometry and causality leads to different scaling laws for the density of vortices as a function of the quench rate, as we also illustrate for the case of a toroidal trapping potential.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

On the Definition of Decoherence

We examine the relationship between the decoherence of quantum-mechanical histories of a closed system (as discussed by Gell-Mann and Hartle) and environmentally-induced diagonalization of the density operator for an open system. We study a definition of decoherence which incorporates both of these ideas, and show that it leads to a consistent probabilistic interpretation of the reduced density operator.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, SJSU/TP-93-1