English

Wigner Functions for Arbitrary Quantum Systems

Quantum Physics 2016-10-28 v3 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

The possibility of constructing a complete, continuous Wigner function for any quantum system has been a subject of investigation for over 50 years. A key system that has served to illustrate the difficulties of this problem has been an ensemble of spins. Here we present a general and consistent framework for constructing Wigner functions exploiting the underlying symmetries in the physical system at hand. The Wigner function can be used to fully describe any quantum system of arbitrary dimension or ensemble size.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1601.07772,
  title  = {Wigner Functions for Arbitrary Quantum Systems},
  author = {Todd Tilma and Mark J. Everitt and John H. Samson and William J. Munro and Kae Nemoto},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1601.07772},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

5 pages, 3 figures