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P. V. Afonin

Publications and source records attributed to P. V. Afonin.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Wigner function properties for electromagnetic systems

Using the Wigner-Vlasov formalism, an exact 3D solution of the Schrödinger equation for a scalar particle in an electromagnetic field is constructed. Electric and magnetic fields are non-uniform. According to the exact expression for the wave function, the search for two types of the Wigner functions is conducted. The first function is the usual Wigner function with a modified momentum. The second Wigner function is constructed on the basis of the Weyl-Stratonovich transform in papers [Phys. Rev. A 35 2791 (1987)] or [Phys. Rev. B 99 014423 (2019)]. It turns out that the second function, unlike the first one, has areas of negative values for wave functions with the Gaussian distribution (Hudson's theorem). An example of electromagnetic quantum system described by a non-Gaussian wave function has successfully been found. The second Wigner function is positive over the whole phase space for the non-Gaussian wave function. This result is analogous to the Hudson theorem for the gage-invariant Wigner function. On the one hand, knowing the Wigner functions allows one to find the distribution of the mean momentum vector field and the energy spectrum of the quantum system. On the other hand, within the framework of the Wigner-Vlasov formalism, the mean momentum distribution and the magnitude of the energy are initially known. Consequently, the mean momentum distributions and energy values obtained according to the Wigner functions can be compared with the exact momentum distribution and energy values. This paper presents this comparison and describes the differences. The Vlasov-Moyal approximation of average acceleration flow has been built in phase space for a quantum system with electromagnetic field. The obtained approximation makes it possible to cut the Vlasov chain off at the second equation and also to analyze the Boltzmann H-function evolution.

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Is the Moyal equation for the Wigner function a quantum analogue of the Liouville equation?

The Moyal equation describes the evolution of the Wigner function of a quantum system in the phase space. The right-hand side of the equation contains an infinite series with coefficients proportional to powers of the Planck constant. There is an interpretation of the Moyal equation as a quantum analogue of the classical Liouville equation. Indeed, if one uses the notion of the classical passage to the limit as the Planck constant tends to zero, then formally the right-hand side of the Moyal equation tends to zero. As a result, the Moyal equation becomes the classical Liouville equation for the distribution function. In this paper, we show that the right side of the Moyal equation does not explicitly depend on the Planck constant, and all terms of the series can make a significant contribution. The transition between the classical and quantum descriptions is related not to the Planck constant, but to the spatial scale. For a model quantum system with a potential in the form of a «quadratic funnel», an exact 3D solution of the Schrödinger equation is found and the corresponding Wigner function is constructed in the paper. Using trajectory analysis in the phase space, based on the representation of the right-hand side of the Moyal equation, it is shown that on the spatial microscale there is an infinite number of «trajectories» of the particle motion (thereby the concept of a trajectory is indefinite), and when passing to the macroscale, all «trajectories» concentrate around the classical trajectory.

quant-ph↗