Classical and quantum Brownian motion in an electromagnetic field. Issue 6 (5th December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Patriarca, Marco; Sodano, Pasquale
• Other Names: Keefe Peter D. guestEditor.; Nieuwenhuizen Theo M. guestEditor.; Špička Václav guestEditor.
• Is Part Of: Fortschritte der Physik. Volume 65:Issue 6/7/8(2017)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2016-12-05
• Subjects: Quantum Brownian motion -- magnetic field -- Feynman‐Vernon model -- Caldeira‐Leggett model; Physics -- Periodicals; 530.05
• DOI: 10.1002/prop.201600058
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0015-8208

Abstract

Abstract : The dynamics of a Brownian particle in a constant magnetic field and time‐dependent electric field is studied in the limit of white noise, using a Langevin approach for the classical problem and the path‐integral Feynman‐Vernon and Caldeira‐Leggett framework for the quantum problem. A first goal of this study is to use the two‐dimensional problem of a Brownian particle in a magnetic field to show that a proper re‐formulation of the oscillator model of quantum Brownian motion allows one to recover the classical limit of the dynamics correctly. Furthermore, the probability distribution in configuration space of an initial pure state represented by an asymmetrical Gaussian wave function is worked out and its general time evolution is decomposed in the superposition of basic processes: (a) the classical motion of the center of mass, (b) a rotation around the mean position, and (c) spreading processes along the principal axes.