Experiments with ultracold quantum gases provide a platform for creating many-body systems that can be well controlled and whose parameters can be tuned over a wide range. These properties put these systems in an ideal position for simulating problems that are out of reach for classical computers. This review surveys key advances in this field and discusses the possibilities offered by this approach to quantum simulation.

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Quantum simulations with ultracold quantum gases

http://myweb.rz.uni-augsburg.de/~eckern/WEH-287/ABSTRACTS/ruitenbeek.pdf

Quantum properties of atomic-sized conductors

Journal of Physics Condensed Matter: Preface

We give a general overview of the high-frequency regime in periodically driven systems and identify three distinct classes of driving protocols in which the infinite-frequency Floquet Hamiltonian is not equal to the time-averaged Hamiltonian. These classes cover systems, such as the Kapitza pendulum, the Harper–Hofstadter model of neutral atoms in a magnetic field, the Haldane Floquet Chern insulator and others. In all setups considered, we discuss both the infinite-frequency limit and the leading finite-frequency corrections to the Floquet Hamiltonian. We provide a short overview of Floquet theory focusing on the gauge structure associated with the choice of stroboscopic frame and the differences between stroboscopic and non-stroboscopic dynamics. In the latter case, one has to work with dressed operators representing observables and a dressed density matrix. We also comment on the application of Floquet Theory to systems described by static Hamiltonians with well-separated energy scales and, in particul...

Universal high-frequency behavior of periodically driven systems: from dynamical stabilization to Floquet engineering

The semiclassical (SC) initial value representation (IVR) provides a potentially practical way for adding quantum mechanical effects to classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the dynamics of complex molecular systems (i.e., those with many degrees of freedom). It does this by replacing the nonlinear boundary value problem of semiclassical theory by an average over the initial conditions of classical trajectories. This paper reviews the background and rebirth of interest in such approaches and surveys a variety of their recent applications. Special focus is on the ability to treat the dynamics of complex systems, and in this regard, the forward−backward (FB) version of the approach is especially promising. Several examples of the FB-IVR applied to model problems of many degrees of freedom show it to be capable of describing quantum effects quite well and also how these effects are quenched when some of the degrees of freedom are averaged over (“decoherence”).

The Semiclassical Initial Value Representation: A Potentially Practical Way for Adding Quantum Effects to Classical Molecular Dynamics Simulations

The phenomenon of tunneling is investigated for a symmetric double-well potential perturbed by a monochromatic driving force. The analysis is based on a numerical treatment of the quantum map that propagates the system over one period of the external force, and of the spectrum of its eigenphases (quasienergies). The variety in the quasienergy spectrum, such as exact and avoided crossings, leads to novel forms of coherent tunneling. In particular, for specific parameter values of the driving force, we find almost complete localization of the wave packet in one of the wells.

Coherent destruction of tunneling

We study electron transport across a carbon molecular junction consisting of a C60 molecule sandwiched between two semi-infinite metallic carbon nanotubes. It is shown that the Landauer conductance of this carbon hybrid system can be tuned within orders of magnitude not only by varying the tube-C60 distance, but more importantly at fixed distances by (i) changing the orientation of the Buckminsterfullerene or (ii) rotating one of the tubes around its cylinder axis. Furthermore, it is explicitly shown that structural relaxation determines qualitatively the transmission spectrum of such devices.

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Theory of an all-carbon molecular switch

A semiclassical correlation function approach to barrier tunneling

We analytically derive a correlated approach for a mixed semiclassical many particle dynamics, treating a fraction of the degrees of freedom by the multitrajectory semiclassical initial value method of Herman and Kluk [Chem. Phys. 91, 27 (1984)] while approximately treating the dynamics of the remaining degrees of freedom with fixed initial phase space variables, analogously to the thawed Gaussian wave packet dynamics of Heller [J. Chem. Phys. 62, 1544 (1975)]. A first application of this hybrid approach to the well studied Secrest-Johnson [J. Chem. Phys. 45, 4556 (1966)] model of atom-diatomic collisions is promising. Results close to the quantum ones for correlation functions as well as scattering probabilities could be gained with considerably reduced numerical effort as compared to the full semiclassical Herman-Kluk approach. Furthermore, the harmonic nature of the different degrees of freedom can be determined a posteriori by comparing results with and without the additional approximation.

Frank Grossmann

Papers

Coherent destruction of tunneling

Theory of an all-carbon molecular switch

A semiclassical correlation function approach to barrier tunneling

A semiclassical hybrid approach to many particle quantum dynamics

From the coherent state path integral to a semiclassical initial value representation of the quantum mechanical propagator