scholarly journals Many-particle Sudarshan-Lindblad equation: mean-field approximation, nonlinearity and dissipation in a spin system

Author(s):  
G.A. Prataviera ◽  
S.S. Mizrahi

A system of N spin-1/2 particles interacting with a thermal reservoir is used as a pedagogical example for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. We introduce and illustrate some methods, approximations, and phenomena related to dissipation and nonlinearity in many-particle physics. We start our analysis from the dynamical Sudarshan-Lindblad quantum master equation for the density operator of a system S interacting with a thermal reservoir R. We derive the quantum version of the so-called Bogoliubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon (BBGKY) equations such that the master equation can be decomposed in a hierarchical set of N - 1 equations (N > 1). The hierarchy is broken by introducing the mean-field approximation and reducing the problem to a nonlinear single particle system. In this scenario, the Hamiltonian is nonlinear (i.e., it depends on the state of <S), although the superoperator responsible for the dissipation and decoherence of S remains unaffected. To provide a useful tool to students: (1) we discuss the physical approximations involved, (2) we derive the analytical solution to the mean values equations of motion resulting from the Hamiltonian, (3) we solve analytically the master equation in the stationary regime, (4) we obtain and discuss the solution of the nonlinear master equation, numerically, and finally, (5) we discuss the master equation beyond the mean-field approximation and show how to introduce higher order quantum correlations that have been previously neglected.

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (03) ◽  
pp. 1950015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franco Fagnola ◽  
Carlos M. Mora

We study the nonlinear quantum master equation describing a laser under the mean field approximation. The quantum system is formed by a single mode optical cavity and two level atoms, which interact with reservoirs. Namely, we establish the existence and uniqueness of the regular solution to the nonlinear operator equation under consideration, as well as we get a probabilistic representation for this solution in terms of a mean field stochastic Schrödinger equation. To this end, we find a regular solution for the nonautonomous linear quantum master equation in Gorini–Kossakowski–Sudarshan–Lindblad form, and we prove the uniqueness of the solution to the nonautonomous linear adjoint quantum master equation in Gorini–Kossakowski–Sudarshan–Lindblad form. Moreover, we obtain rigorously the Maxwell–Bloch equations from the mean field laser equation.


Author(s):  
Jean Zinn-Justin

This chapter is devoted to a brief review of general properties of phase transitions in macroscopic physics and, in particular in lattice models. Some of these lattice models actually appear as lattice regularizations of Euclidean (imaginary time) quantum physics theory (QFT). Most of the transitions considered in this work have the following character: spins on the lattice, or macroscopic particles in the continuum, interact through short-range forces, assumed, for simplicity, to decay exponentially. For simple systems, it is possible to find a local observable, called order parameter, whose expectation values depend on the phase in the several phase region, for example, the spin in ferromagnetic systems. In the disordered phase, the connected two-point function decreases exponentially at large distance, at a rate characterized by the correlation length (the inverse of the smallest physical mass in particle physics). In continuous transitions, the correlation length diverges at the critical temperature. Within the mean-field approximation (consistent with Landau's theory of critical phenomena), it can be shown that the singular behaviour of thermodynamic quantities at the critical temperature is universal. These properties can also be reproduced by calculating correlation functions with a perturbed Gaussian measure. It is then shown that the leading corrections to the mean-field approximation, in Ising-like systems, diverge at the critical temperature for dimensions smaller than or equal to $4$.


1973 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 617 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Van der Borght ◽  
JO Murphy

The combined effect of an imposed rotation and magnetic field on convective transfer in a horizontal Boussinesq layer of fluid heated from below is studied in the mean field approximation. The basic equations are derived by a variational technique and their solutions are then found over a wide range of conditions, in the case of free boundaries, by numerical and analytic techniques, in particular by asymptotic and perturbation methods. The results obtained by the different techniques are shown to be in excellent agreement. As for the linear theory, the calculations predict that the simultaneous presence' of a magnetic field and rotation may produce conflicting tendencies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 172 ◽  
pp. 02003
Author(s):  
Alejandro Ayala ◽  
J. A. Flores ◽  
L. A. Hernández ◽  
S. Hernández-Ortiz

We use the linear sigma model coupled to quarks to compute the effective potential beyond the mean field approximation, including the contribution of the ring diagrams at finite temperature and baryon density. We determine the model couplings and use them to study the phase diagram in the baryon chemical potential-temperature plane and to locate the Critical End Point.


2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (04) ◽  
pp. 910-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei Huang

Magnetic instability in gapless superconductors still remains as a puzzle. In this article, we point out that the instability might be caused by using BCS theory in mean-field approximation, where the phase fluctuation has been neglected. The mean-field BCS theory describes very well the strongly coherent or rigid superconducting state. With the increase of mismatch between the Fermi surfaces of pairing fermions, the phase fluctuation plays more and more important role, and "soften" the superconductor. The strong phase fluctuation will eventually quantum disorder the superconducting state, and turn the system into a phase-decoherent pseudogap state.


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