dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaOverdamping by weakly coupled environments
| Authors | Massimiliano Esposito, Fritz Haake |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0510164 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0510164 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevA.72.063808 |
Abstract
A quantum system weakly interacting with a fast environment usually undergoes a relaxation with complex frequencies whose imaginary parts are damping rates quadratic in the coupling to the environment, in accord with Fermi's ``Golden Rule''. We show for various models (spin damped by harmonic-oscillator or random-matrix baths, quantum diffusion, quantum Brownian motion) that upon increasing the coupling up to a critical value still small enough to allow for weak-coupling Markovian master equations, a new relaxation regime can occur. In that regime, complex frequencies lose their real parts such that the process becomes overdamped. Our results call into question the standard belief that overdamping is exclusively a strong coupling feature.
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"abstract": "A quantum system weakly interacting with a fast environment usually undergoes\na relaxation with complex frequencies whose imaginary parts are damping rates\nquadratic in the coupling to the environment, in accord with Fermi\u0027s ``Golden\nRule\u0027\u0027. We show for various models (spin damped by harmonic-oscillator or\nrandom-matrix baths, quantum diffusion, quantum Brownian motion) that upon\nincreasing the coupling up to a critical value still small enough to allow for\nweak-coupling Markovian master equations, a new relaxation regime can occur. In\nthat regime, complex frequencies lose their real parts such that the process\nbecomes overdamped. Our results call into question the standard belief that\noverdamping is exclusively a strong coupling feature.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0510164",
"authors": [
"Massimiliano Esposito",
"Fritz Haake"
],
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"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevA.72.063808",
"title": "Overdamping by weakly coupled environments",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0510164"
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