Quantum Dynamics

Nguyễn Thành Tiên,

Bộ môn Vật Lý, Khoa KHTN,
Trường ĐH Cần Thơ

nttien@ctu.edu.vn
 Schrödinger Picture
A discussion of different pictures in quantum mechanics is essential for understanding
and application of time-dependent perturbation theory. The time evolution of
operators and state vectors in quantum mechanics can be expressed in different
representations.

In the Schrödinger picture, the operators remain constant, quantum states evolve in
time and their time dependence is obtained from the Schrödinger equation
 Heisenberg Picture
In the Heisenberg picture, states do not change with time. This is
accomplished by adding a term to the Schrödinger states to eliminate time-
dependence

The general operator in the Heisenberg picture is given by

 Interaction Picture
Both the states and the operators are time-dependent. In order for the interaction
picture to be useful in simplifying the analysis of a problem, the Hamiltonian is divided
into two parts
For time-dependent perturbation Hamiltonian!!

The quantum state in the interaction representation is given by

The equation of motion of this state
 The Evolution Operator

Evolution Operator (Unitary)

For finite times

 The Evolution Operator
We can construct an integral equation for , which can be solved by iteration. From
above:

Integrating both sides to

By iterating this equation repeatedly

 The Evolution Operator
At this point it is convenient to introduce the time-ordering operator, denoted by the
symbol

Using this operator

Time ordering can be generalized to higher order terms

 The Evolution Operator

It is understood that the time-ordering operator acts to order the operators in each term
of the expansion of the exponential. This expression for is the starting point for
infinite order perturbation theory. In many applications, the perturbation is weak
compared to H0. Therefore, first order approximation

This simple time evolution operator forms the basis for the Kubo formula in linear
response theory, which is applicable to a wide range of physical problems.
 Imaginary Time Propagation
At finite temperature under thermodynamic equilibrium, the state of a system is
described by the equilibrium density operator . For a given , the ensemble average
of any operator is calculated as

In order to treat both and simultaneously, one can replace the time argument by an
imaginary quantity t=-iƬ , where Ƭ is real and has the dimension of time.
Under this condition, both and can be treated in just one expansion in powers of
the interaction Hamiltonian. As for real time, one can define an imaginary time
Heisenberg picture by substituting it by Ƭ.

The interaction picture

The Heisenberg and

interaction pictures
 Imaginary Time Propagation
where the imaginary time evolution operator
 Imaginary Time Propagation

which relates the many-body density operator to the single-particle density operator by
means of an imaginary time evolution operator
Thanks for your attention!