Fermi's golden rule and exponential decay as a RG fixed point

DOI10.1007/S10955-009-9700-XzbMATH Open1166.82008arXiv0805.0502OpenAlexW2034067768MaRDI QIDQ1024233FDOQ1024233

Authors: Edwin Langmann, Goeran Lindblad 

Publication date: 16 June 2009

Published in: Journal of Statistical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We discuss the decay of unstable states into a quasicontinuum using models of the effective Hamiltonian type. The goal is to show that exponential decay and the golden rule are exact in a suitable scaling limit, and that there is an associated renormalization group (RG) with these properties as a fixed point. The method is inspired by a limit theorem for infinitely divisible distributions in probability theory, where there is a RG with a Cauchy distribution, i.e. a Lorentz line shape, as a fixed point. Our method of solving for the spectrum is well known; it does not involve a perturbation expansion in the interaction, and needs no assumption of a weak interaction. We use random matrices for the interaction, and show that the ensemble fluctuations vanish in the scaling limit. Thus the limit is the same for every model in the ensemble with probability one.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0805.0502

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zbMATH Keywords

random matrixrenormalization groupFermi's golden ruleunstable statesFeshbach methodLorentz line shape

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Selfadjoint operator theory in quantum theory, including spectral analysis (81Q10) Renormalization group methods in equilibrium statistical mechanics (82B28)

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Cited In (6)

• Göran Lindblad in Memoriam
• A theorem on the rate of regeneration in decay processes
• The structures of state space concerning quantum dynamical semigroups
• Is Fermi’s Golden Rule Always True for Compton Scattering?
• Finite-size corrections to Fermi's golden rule: I. Decay rates
• On the generalized golden rule for transition probabilities

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