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Alain Joye

Publications and source records attributed to Alain Joye.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Dynamical Localization for Unitary Anderson Models

This paper establishes dynamical localization properties of certain families of unitary random operators on the d-dimensional lattice in various regimes. These operators are generalizations of one-dimensional physical models of quantum transport and draw their name from the analogy with the discrete Anderson model of solid state physics. They consist in a product of a deterministic unitary operator and a random unitary operator. The deterministic operator has a band structure, is absolutely continuous and plays the role of the discrete Laplacian. The random operator is diagonal with elements given by i.i.d. random phases distributed according to some absolutely continuous measure and plays the role of the random potential. In dimension one, these operators belong to the family of CMV-matrices in the theory of orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle. We implement the method of Aizenman-Molchanov to prove exponential decay of the fractional moments of the Green function for the unitary Anderson model in the following three regimes: In any dimension, throughout the spectrum at large disorder and near the band edges at arbitrary disorder and, in dimension one, throughout the spectrum at arbitrary disorder. We also prove that exponential decay of fractional moments of the Green function implies dynamical localization, which in turn implies spectral localization. These results complete the analogy with the self-adjoint case where dynamical localization is known to be true in the same three regimes.

math-ph↗

Repeated Interaction Quantum Systems: Deterministic and Random

This paper gives an overview of recent results concerning the long time dynamics of repeated interaction quantum systems in a deterministic and random framework. We describe the non equilibrium steady states (NESS) such systems display and we present, as a macroscopic consequence, a second law of thermodynamics these NESS give rise to. We also explain in some details the analysis of products of certain random matrices underlying this dynamical problem.

math-ph↗

A Mathematical Theory for Vibrational Levels Associated with Hydrogen Bonds II: The Non--Symmetric Case

We propose an alternative to the usual time--independent Born--Oppenheimer approximation that is specifically designed to describe molecules with non--symmetrical hydrogen bonds. In our approach, the masses of the hydrogen nuclei are scaled differently from those of the heavier nuclei, and we employ a specialized form for the electron energy level surface. As a result, the different vibrational modes appear at different orders of approximation. Although we develop a general theory, our analysis is motivated by an examination of the F H Cl- ion. We describe our results for it in detail. We prove the existence of quasimodes and quasienergies for the nuclear vibrational and rotational motion to arbitrary order in the Born--Oppenheimer parameter epsilon. When the electronic motion is also included, we provide simple formulas for the quasienergies up to order epsilon cubed that compare well with experiment and numerical results.

math-ph↗

Emergence of exponentially small reflected waves

We study the time-dependent scattering of a quantum mechanical wave packet at a barrier for energies larger than the barrier height, in the semi-classical regime. More precisely, we are interested in the leading order of the exponentially small scattered part of the wave packet in the semiclassical parameter when the energy density of the incident wave is sharply peaked around some value. We prove that this reflected part has, to leading order, a Gaussian shape centered on the classical trajectory for all times soon after its birth time. We give explicit formulas and rigorous error bounds for the reflected wave for all of these times.

math-ph↗

Random repeated interaction quantum systems

We consider a quantum system S interacting sequentially with independent systems E_m, m=1,2,... Before interacting, each E_m is in a possibly random state, and each interaction is characterized by an interaction time and an interaction operator, both possibly random. We prove that any initial state converges to an asymptotic state almost surely in the ergodic mean, provided the couplings satisfy a mild effectiveness condition. We analyze the macroscopic properties of the asymptotic state and show that it satisfies a second law of thermodynamics. We solve exactly a model in which S and all the E_m are spins: we find the exact asymptotic state, in case the interaction time, the temperature, and the excitation energies of the E_m vary randomly. We analyze a model in which S is a spin and the E_m are thermal fermion baths and obtain the asymptotic state by rigorous perturbation theory, for random interaction times varying slightly around a fixed mean, and for small values of a coupling constant.

math-ph↗

Infinite Products of Random Matrices and Repeated Interaction Dynamics

Let $Ψ_n$ be a product of $n$ independent, identically distributed random matrices $M$, with the properties that $Ψ_n$ is bounded in $n$, and that $M$ has a deterministic (constant) invariant vector. Assuming that the probability of $M$ having only the simple eigenvalue 1 on the unit circle does not vanish, we show that $Ψ_n$ is the sum of a fluctuating and a decaying process. The latter converges to zero almost surely, exponentially fast as $n\to\infty$. The fluctuating part converges in Cesaro mean to a limit that is characterized explicitly by the deterministic invariant vector and the spectral data of ${\mathbb E}[M]$ associated to 1. No additional assumptions are made on the matrices $M$; they may have complex entries and not be invertible. We apply our general results to two classes of dynamical systems: inhomogeneous Markov chains with random transition matrices (stochastic matrices), and random repeated interaction quantum systems. In both cases, we prove ergodic theorems for the dynamics, and we obtain the form of the limit states.

math.PR↗

Non-abelian superconducting pumps

Cooper pair pumping is a coherent process. We derive a general expression for the adiabatic pumped charge in superconducting nanocircuits in the presence of level degeneracy and relate it to non-Abelian holonomies of Wilczek and Zee. We discuss an experimental system where the non-Abelian structure of the adiabatic evolution manifests in the pumped charge.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

General Adiabatic Evolution with a Gap Condition

We consider the adiabatic regime of two parameters evolution semigroups generated by linear operators that are analytic in time and satisfy the following gap condition for all times: the spectrum of the generator consists in finitely many isolated eigenvalues of finite algebraic multiplicity, away from the rest of the spectrum. The restriction of the generator to the spectral subspace corresponding to the distinguished eigenvalues is not assumed to be diagonalizable. The presence of eigenilpotents in the spectral decomposition of the generator forbids the evolution to follow the instantaneous eigenprojectors of the generator in the adiabatic limit. Making use of superadiabatic renormalization, we construct a different set of time-dependent projectors, close to the instantaneous eigeprojectors of the generator in the adiabatic limit, and an approximation of the evolution semigroup which intertwines exactly between the values of these projectors at the initial and final times. Hence, the evolution semigroup follows the constructed set of projectors in the adiabatic regime, modulo error terms we control.

math-ph↗

A Mathematical Theory for Vibrational Levels Associated with Hydrogen Bonds I: The Symmetric Case

We propose an alternative to the usual time--independent Born--Oppenheimer approximation that is specifically designed to describe molecules with symmetrical Hydrogen bonds. In our approach, the masses of the Hydrogen nuclei are scaled differently from those of the heavier nuclei, and we employ a specialized form for the electron energy level surface. Consequently, anharmonic effects play a role in the leading order calculations of vibrational levels. Although we develop a general theory, our analysis is motivated by an examination of symmetric bihalide ions, such as FHF- or ClHCl-. We describe our approach for the FHF- ion in detail.

math-ph↗

Asymptotics of repeated interaction quantum systems

A quantum system $\s$ interacts in a successive way with elements $\ee$ of a chain of identical independent quantum subsystems. Each interaction lasts for a duration $τ$ and is governed by a fixed coupling between $\s$ and $\ee$. We show that the system, initially in any state close to a reference state, approaches a {\it repeated interaction asymptotic state} in the limit of large times. This state is $τ$--periodic in time and does not depend on the initial state. If the reference state is chosen so that $\s$ and $\ee$ are individually in equilibrium at positive temperatures, then the repeated interaction asymptotic state satisfies an average second law of thermodynamics.

math-ph↗

Semi-classical determination of exponentially small intermode transitions for 1+1 space-time scattering systems

We consider the semiclassical limit of systems of autonomous PDE's in 1+1 space-time dimensions in a scattering regime. We assume the matrix valued coefficients are analytic in the space variable and we further suppose that the corresponding dispersion relation admits real-valued modes only with one-dimensional polarization subspaces. Hence a BKW-type analysis of the solutions is possible. We typically consider time-dependent solutions to the PDE which are carried asymptotically in the past and as $x\to -\infty$ along one mode only and determine the piece of the solution that is carried for $x\to +\infty$ along some other mode in the future. Because of the assumed non-degeneracy of the modes, such transitions between modes are exponentially small in the semiclassical parameter; this is an expression of the Landau-Zener mechanism. We completely elucidate the space-time properties of the leading term of this exponentially small wave, when the semiclassical parameter is small, for large values of $x$ and $t$, when some avoided crossing of finite width takes place between the involved modes.

math-ph↗

Localization for Random Unitary Operators

We consider unitary analogs of $1-$dimensional Anderson models on $l^2(\Z)$ defined by the product $U_ω=D_ωS$ where $S$ is a deterministic unitary and $D_ω$ is a diagonal matrix of i.i.d. random phases. The operator $S$ is an absolutely continuous band matrix which depends on a parameter controlling the size of its off-diagonal elements. We prove that the spectrum of $U_ω$ is pure point almost surely for all values of the parameter of $S$. We provide similar results for unitary operators defined on $l^2(\N)$ together with an application to orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle. We get almost sure localization for polynomials characterized by Verblunski coefficients of constant modulus and correlated random phases.

math-ph↗

Weak Coupling and Continuous Limits for Repeated Quantum Interactions

We consider a quantum system in contact with a heat bath consisting in an infinite chain of identical sub-systems at thermal equilibrium at inverse temperature $β$. The time evolution is discrete and such that over each time step of duration $τ$, the reference system is coupled to one new element of the chain only, by means of an interaction of strength $λ$. We consider three asymptotic regimes of the parameters $λ$ and $τ$ for which the effective evolution of observables on the small system becomes continuous over suitable macroscopic time scales $T$ and whose generator can be computed: the weak coupling limit regime $λ\ra 0$, $τ=1$, the regime $τ\ra 0$, $λ^2τ\ra 0$ and the critical case $λ^2τ=1$, $τ\ra 0$. The first two regimes are perturbative in nature and the effective generators they determine is such that a non-trivial invariant sub-algebra of observables naturally emerges. The third asymptotic regime goes beyond the perturbative regime and provides an effective dynamics governed by a general Lindblad generator naturally constructed from the interaction Hamiltonian. Conversely, this result shows that one can attach to any Lindblad generator a repeated quantum interactions model whose asymptotic effective evolution is generated by this Lindblad operator.

math-ph↗

Fractional Moment Estimates for Random Unitary Operators

We consider unitary analogs of $d-$dimensional Anderson models on $l^2(\Z^d)$ defined by the product $U_ω=D_ωS$ where $S$ is a deterministic unitary and $D_ω$ is a diagonal matrix of i.i.d. random phases. The operator $S$ is an absolutely continuous band matrix which depends on parameters controlling the size of its off-diagonal elements. We adapt the method of Aizenman-Molchanov to get exponential estimates on fractional moments of the matrix elements of $U_ω(U_ω-z)^{-1}$, provided the distribution of phases is absolutely continuous and the parameters correspond to small off-diagonal elements of $S$. Such estimates imply almost sure localization for $U_ω$.

math-ph↗

Time Development of Exponentially Small Non-Adiabatic Transitions

Optimal truncations of asymptotic expansions are known to yield approximations to adiabatic quantum evolutions that are accurate up to exponentially small errors. In this paper, we rigorously determine the leading order non--adiabatic corrections to these approximations for a particular family of two--level analytic Hamiltonian functions. Our results capture the time development of the exponentially small transition that takes place between optimal states by means of a particular switching function. Our results confirm the physics predictions of Sir Michael Berry in the sense that the switching function for this family of Hamiltonians has the form that he argues is universal.

math-ph↗

Density of States and Thouless Formula for Random Unitary Band Matrices

We study the density of states measure for some class of random unitary band matrices and prove a Thouless formula relating it to the associated Lyapunov exponent. This class of random matrices appears in the study of the dynamical stability of certain quantum systems and can also be considered as a unitary version of the Anderson model. We further determine the support of the density of states measure and provide a condition ensuring it possesses an analytic density.

math-ph↗

Spectral Analysis of Unitary Band Matrices

This paper is devoted to the spectral properties of a class of unitary operators with a matrix representation displaying a band structure. Such band matrices appear as monodromy operators in the study of certain quantum dynamical systems. These doubly infinite matrices essentially depend on an infinite sequence of phases which govern their spectral properties. We prove the spectrum is purely singular for random phases and purely absolutely continuous in case they provide the doubly infinite matrix with a periodic structure in the diagonal direction. We also study some properties of the singular spectrum of such matrices considered as infinite in one direction only.

math-ph↗