Coherent states quantum mechanics

We now have a formula for constructing the density matrix for any system in terms of a set of basis functions, and from Eq. 11.6 we can determine the expectation value of any dynamical variable. However, the real value of the density matrix approach lies in its ability to describe coherent time-dependent processes, something that we could not do with steady-state quantum mechanics. We thus need an expression for the time evolution of the density matrix in terms of the Hamiltonian applicable to the spin system. 

Finally, Alex Brown et al. present in Chap. 9 some applications in the context of quantum computing. The possibilities offered through quantum computation have been well known for many years now [257,258]. A quantum computer is a computation device that makes direct use of quantum-mechanical phenomena, mainly the fact that the system can be in a coherent superposition of different eigenstates due to the superposition principle. This has no classical counterpart as illustrated by the famous Schrodinger cat as explained above. In classical computers, the basic unit of information is a bit that can have only two values often denoted 0 and 1. As explained by Brown et al, in quantum computers, the unit of information is a qubit that is a coherent superposition of two quantum sates denoted 0 and 1. More precisely, it is a two-state quantum-mechanical system that can be written as a 0 > >. The advantage of a quantum computer... 

Aside from merely calculational difficulties, the existence of a low-temperature rate-constant limit poses a conceptual problem. In fact, one may question the actual meaning of the rate constant at r = 0, when the TST conditions listed above are not fulfilled. If the potential has a double-well shape, then quantum mechanics predicts coherent oscillations of probability between the wells, rather than the exponential decay towards equilibrium. These oscillations are associated with tunneling splitting measured spectroscopically, not with a chemical conversion. Therefore, a simple one-dimensional system has no rate constant at T = 0, unless it is a metastable potential without a bound final state. In practice, however, there are exchange chemical reactions, characterized by symmetric, or nearly symmetric double-well potentials, in which the rate constant is measured. To account for this, one has to admit the existence of some external mechanism whose role is to destroy the phase coherence. It is here that the need to introduce a heat bath arises. 

The first case has already been considered section 2.0 the second case leads to a strong classical spin-orbit coupling, which is reflected in a Hamiltonian nature of the classical combined dynamics. In both situations the procedure is to find a suitable approximate Hamiltonian Hq( ) that propagates coherent states exactly along appropriate classical spin-orbit trajectories (x(l,),p(t),n(l,)). (For problems with only translational degrees of freedom this has been suggested in (Heller, 1975) and proven in (Combescure and Robert, 1997).) Then one treats the full Hamiltonian as a perturbation of the approximate one and calculates the full time evolution in quantum mechanical perturbation theory (via the Dyson series), i.e., one iterates the Duhamel formula... 

The TFD formalism permits the discussion of several aspects in quantum mechanics, as for example, the thermal coherent states of an oscillator. 

Second, the mapping approach to nonadiabatic quantum dynamics is reviewed in Sections VI-VII. Based on an exact quantum-mechanical formulation, this approach allows us in several aspects to go beyond the scope of standard mixed quantum-classical methods. In particular, we study the classical phase space of a nonadiabatic system (including the discussion of vibronic periodic orbits) and the semiclassical description of nonadiabatic quantum mechanics via initial-value representations of the semiclassical propagator. The semiclassical spin-coherent state method and its close relation to the mapping approach is discussed in Section IX. Section X summarizes our results and concludes with some general remarks. 

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