Related papers: Quantum Statistical Metastability Revisited
In these notes I explain how to describe one-dimensional quantum systems that are simultaneously near to, but not exactly at, a critical point, and in a far-from-equilibrium steady state. This description uses a density matrix on scattering…
We describe here how the late time behavior of the decaying states, which is predicted to deviate from an exponential form, while normally of insignificant consequence, may have important cosmological implications in the case of false…
We study the structure of the time evolution of the density matrix in contact with a thermal bath in a standard projection operator sheme. The reduced density matrix of the system in the steady state is obtained by tracing out the degree of…
We consider the time evolution of a quantized field in backgrounds that violate the vacuum stability (particle-creating backgrounds). Our aim is to study the exact form of the final quantum state (the density operator at a final instant of…
In inflationary cosmology all particle states decay as a consequence of the lack of kinematic thresholds. The decay of an initial single particle state yields an \emph{entangled quantum state of the product particles}. We generalize and…
The pre-exponential factor in the probability of decay of a metastable vacuum is calculated for a generic (2+1) dimensional model in the limit of small difference $\epsilon$ of the energy density between the metastable and the stable vacua.…
The effect of unstable quasiparticles in the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of certain integrable systems has been the subject of several recent studies. In this paper we focus on the stationary value of the entanglement entropy density, its…
During (re)heating of the universe after inflation, the relativistic decay products of the inflaton field $\phi$ must lose energy and additional particles must be produced to attain a thermalised state at a temperature $T_{\reh}$. We…
We present a study of the decay of metastable states of a scalar field via thermal activation, in the presence of a finite density of fermions. The process we consider is the nucleation of ``{\it droplets}'' of true vacuum inside the false…
In this work the Quantum and Statistical Mechanics of the Early Universe, i.e. at Planck scale, is considered as a deformation of the well-known theories. In so doing the primary object under deformation in both cases is the density matrix.…
In this paper we propose a method to estimate the density matrix \rho of a d-level quantum system by measurements on the N-fold system. The scheme is based on covariant observables and representation theory of unitary groups and it extends…
Using ordinary Fourier analysis, the asymptotic decay behavior of the density matrix F(r,r') is derived for the case of a metal at a finite electronic temperature. An oscillatory behavior which is damped exponentially with increasing…
Dephasing of one-particle states in closed quantum dots is analyzed within the framework of random matrix theory and Master equation. Combination of this analysis with recent experiments on the magnetoconductance allows for the first time…
We study a microscopic mean-field model for the dynamics of the electron glass, near a local equilibrium state. Phonon-induced tunneling processes are responsible for generating transitions between localized electronic sites, which…
The smallest classically stable Q-balls are, in fact, generically metastable: in quantum theory they decay into free particles via collective tunneling. We derive general semiclassical method to calculate the rate of this process in the…
The change in the decay rate of an excited atom that is brought about by extinction and thermal-radiation effects in a nearby dielectric medium is determined from a quantummechanical model. The medium is a collection of randomly distributed…
Dynamical evolution of the quantum ground state (vacuum) is analyzed for time variant harmonic oscillators characterized by asymptotically constant frequency. The oscillatory density matrix in the asymptotic future is uniquely determined by…
A new statistical approach is presented to study the thermal instability process of optically thin unmagnetized plasma. In this approach the time evolution of mass distribution function over temperature is calculated. This function…
The decay of metastable states is dominated by quantum tunneling at low temperatures and by thermal activation at high temperatures. The escape rate of a particle out of a square well is calculated within a semi-classical approximation and…
We demonstrate that the probability density of a quantum state moving freely in one dimension may decay faster than 1/t. Inverse quadratic and cubic dependences are illustrated with analytically solvable examples. Decays faster than 1/t…