English

Diffusive-ballistic crossover in 1D quantum walks

Quantum Physics 2009-11-07 v3 Statistical Mechanics Chaotic Dynamics

Abstract

We show that particle transport in a uniform, quantum multi-baker map, is generically ballistic in the long time limit, for any fixed value of Planck's constant. However, for fixed times, the semi-classical limit leads to diffusion. Random matrix theory provides explicit analytical predictions for the mean square displacement of a particle in the system. These results exhibit a crossover from diffusive to ballistic motion, with crossover time from diffusive to ballistic motion on the order of the inverse of Planck's constant. We can argue, that for a large class of 1D quantum random walks, similar to the quantum multi-baker, a sufficient condition for diffusion in the semi-classical limit is classically chaotic dynamics in each cell. Using an initial equilibrium density matrix, we find that diffusive behavior is recovered in the semi-classical limit for such systems, without further interactions with the environment.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.quant-ph/0209036,
  title  = {Diffusive-ballistic crossover in 1D quantum walks},
  author = {Daniel K. Wojcik and J. R. Dorfman},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/0209036},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

Final version close to published; 4 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX 4