English

Nonclassical phase-space trajectories for the damped harmonic quantum oscillator

Quantum Physics 2010-10-07 v1

Abstract

The phase-space path-integral approach to the damped harmonic oscillator is analyzed beyond the Markovian approximation. It is found that pairs of nonclassical trajectories contribute to the path-integral representation of the Wigner propagating function. Due to the linearity of the problem, the sum coordinate of a pair still satisfies the classical equation of motion. Furthermore, it is shown that the broadening of the Wigner propagating function of the damped oscillator arises due to the time-nonlocal interaction mediated by the heat bath.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1005.3839,
  title  = {Nonclassical phase-space trajectories for the damped harmonic quantum oscillator},
  author = {Leonardo A. Pachon and Gert-Ludwig Ingold and Thomas Dittrich},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1005.3839},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

8 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Chemical Physics

R2 v1 2026-06-21T15:25:54.073Z