Dynamics of noisy quantum systems in the Heisenberg picture: application to the stability of fractional charge

Abstract

Based on the Heisenberg-picture analog of the master equation, we develop a method for computing the exact time dependence of noise-averaged observables for general noninteracting fermionic systems with noisy fluctuations. Upon noise averaging, these fluctuations generate effective interactions, limiting analytical approaches. While the short-time dynamics can be studied with Langevin-type numerical simulations, the long-time limit is not amenable to such simulations. Our results provide access to this long-time limit. As a simple example, we examine the fate of the fractional charge in cold-atom emulations of polyacetylene after stochastic driving. We find that in a quantum quench to a fluctuating hopping Hamiltonian, the fractional charge remains robust for hopping between different sublattices, while it becomes unstable in the presence of noisy hopping on the same sublattice.