From repeated to continuous quantum interactions (Q818908)

Consider a quantum system \({\mathcal H}_0\) interacting with another system \({\mathcal H}\) under some Hamiltonian \(H\) on \({\mathcal H}_0 \otimes {\mathcal H}\). The exterior system that corresponds to repeated interactions with \({\mathcal H}\) at constant time intervals of length \(h\) is called an atom chain and is represented by the countable product \(\bigotimes_{{\mathbb N}^*} {\mathcal H}\). It is realized as a strict subspace of the continuous tensor product \(\bigotimes_{{\mathbb R}^*_+} {\mathcal H}\) which is called an atom field and represents a continuous-time exterior system. The authors show that as \(h\) tends to zero, the basic operators on the chain \(\bigotimes_{{\mathbb N}^*} {\mathcal H}\), realized as operators on the atom field, converge to the basic quantum noises on \(\bigotimes_{{\mathbb R}^*_+} {\mathcal H}\), and that the standard discrete time evolution equation of repeated interactions on the chain converges to a continuous time quantum Langevin equation on the field. The typical Hamiltonians used here contain free evolution, weak coupling limit and scattering-like terms, which need to be respectively rescaled according to three different scales of orders \(1\), \(\sqrt{h}\), and \(h\). As a result, the quantum Langevin equations describing continuous time quantum measurement, as in e.g. quantum optics, need not be taken as an arbitrary assumption but can be considered as a natural limiting case of a continuous chain of interactions. The construction is applied to give a Hamiltonian description of the von Neumann measurement procedure, and it is also shown how any Lindblad generator can be obtained as the limit of completely positive maps.