A quantum version of transition state theory based on a quantum normal form (QNF) expansion about a saddle-centre-...-centre equilibrium point is presented. A general algorithm is provided which allows one to explictly compute QNF to any desired order. This leads to an efficient procedure to compute quantum reaction rates and the associated Gamov-Siegert resonances. In the classical limit the QNF reduces to the classical normal form which leads to the recently developed phase space realisation of Wigners transition state theory. It is shown that the phase space structures that govern the classical reaction d ynamicsform a skeleton for the quantum scattering and resonance wavefunctions which can also be computed from the QNF. Several examples are worked out explicitly to illustrate the efficiency of the procedure presented.
Stochastic processes with absorbing states feature remarkable examples of non-equilibrium universal phenomena. While a broad understanding has been progressively established in the classical regime, relatively little is known about the behavior of these non-equilibrium systems in the presence of quantum fluctuations. Here we theoretically address such a scenario in an open quantum spin model which in its classical limit undergoes a directed percolation phase transition. By mapping the problem to a non-equilibrium field theory, we show that the introduction of quantum fluctuations stemming from coherent, rather than statistical, spin-flips alters the nature of the transition such that it becomes first-order. In the intermediate regime, where classical and quantum dynamics compete on equal terms, we highlight the presence of a bicritical point with universal features different from the directed percolation class in low dimension. We finally propose how this physics could be explored within gases of interacting atoms excited to Rydberg states.
This study uses the link between extreme value laws and dynamical systems theory to show that important dynamical quantities as the correlation dimension, the entropy and the Lyapunov exponents can be obtained by fitting observables computed along a trajectory of a chaotic systems. All this information is contained in a newly defined Dynamical Extreme Index. Besides being mathematically well defined, it is almost numerically effortless to get as i) it does not require the specification of any additional parameter (e.g. embedding dimension, decorrelation time); ii) it does not suffer from the so-called curse of dimensionality. A numerical code for its computation is provided.
Dynamical quantum phase transitions are closely related to equilibrium quantum phase transitions for ground states. Here, we report an experimental observation of a dynamical quantum phase transition in a spinor condensate with correspondence in an excited state phase diagram, instead of the ground state one. We observe that the quench dynamics exhibits a non-analytical change with respect to a parameter in the final Hamiltonian in the absence of a corresponding phase transition for the ground state there. We make a connection between this singular point and a phase transition point for the highest energy level in a subspace with zero spin magnetization of a Hamiltonian. We further show the existence of dynamical phase transitions for finite magnetization corresponding to the phase transition of the highest energy level in the subspace with the same magnetization. Our results open a door for using dynamical phase transitions as a tool to probe physics at higher energy eigenlevels of many-body Hamiltonians.
We study the dynamical complexity of an open quantum driven double-well oscillator, mapping its dependence on effective Plancks constant $hbar_{eff}equivbeta$ and coupling to the environment, $Gamma$. We study this using stochastic Schrodinger equations, semiclassical equations, and the classical limit equation. We show that (i) the dynamical complexity initially increases with effective Hilbert space size (as $beta$ decreases) such that the most quantum systems are the least dynamically complex. (ii) If the classical limit is chaotic, that is the most dynamically complex (iii) if the classical limit is regular, there is always a quantum system more dynamically complex than the classical system. There are several parameter regimes where the quantum system is chaotic even though the classical limit is not. While some of the quantum chaotic attractors are of the same family as the classical limiting attractors, we also find a quantum attractor with no classical counterpart. These phenomena occur in experimentally accessible regimes.
The quantum walk is a dynamical protocol which describes the motion of spinful particles on a lattice. Also, it has been demonstrated to be a powerful platform to explore topological quantum matter. Recently, the quantum walk in coherent state space has been proposed theoretically and realized experimentally. However, due to the inherent characteristics of coherent states, it is challenging to control the number of photons when we need the coherent space to be a nearly orthogonal space in practice. Here, we demonstrate that the nonorthogonality of coherent sates, on the one hand can be cancelled by multiple measurement, on the other hand, it is useful resource to characterize the nature of the system. Thus the number of photons of the system is controllable. We first present a feasible scheme to measure the wave function of quantum walks. Then we show that the expected number of photons of the coherent space is good observable to represent topological properties of the system, which reflected the advantage of coherent state space quantum walks. In addition, we propose an experimental protocol in a circuit quantum electrodynamics architecture, where a superconducting qubit is a coin while the cavity mode is used for quantum walk.