Wave-packet evolution in non-Hermitian quantum systems

Eva-Maria Graefe, Roman Schubert

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

46 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The quantum evolution of the Wigner function for Gaussian wave packets generated by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian is investigated. In the semiclassical limit (h) over bar -> 0 this yields the non-Hermitian analog of the Ehrenfest theorem for the dynamics of observable expectation values. The lack of Hermiticity reveals the importance of the complex structure on the classical phase space: The resulting equations of motion are coupled to an equation of motion for the phase-space metric-a phenomenon having no analog in Hermitian theories.

Original languageEnglish
Article number060101(R)
Number of pages4
JournalPhysical Review A: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
Volume83
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Jun 2011

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